Chad’s Military Junta and Rebels Sign a Deal, but a Main Player Is Missing

The accord paves the way for nation­al rec­on­cil­i­a­tion talks and demo­c­ra­t­ic elec­tions. How­ev­er, it was snubbed by the main rebel group respon­si­ble for the death of Chad’s pre­vi­ous leader. DAKAR, Sene­gal — Chad’s mil­i­tary gov­ern­ment and more than 40 rebel groups signed a cease-fire agree­ment on Mon­day in Qatar, paving the way for rec­on­cil­i­a­tion talks…

President Biden Announces U.S. — Africa Leaders Summit

DENVER (Africa News Mat­ters) — There are no doubts about the strate­gic impor­tance of the African con­ti­nent to the world’s super­pow­ers. Just as Rus­sia, Chi­na, and India have upped the ante in rela­tions with African nations, the Unit­ed States, con­sid­ered gross­ly lag­ging in its strate­gic rela­tions with the con­ti­nent, appears ready to change its ways. The Obama…

Belgian King Regrets Colonial ‘Humiliation’ in Landmark Congo Trip

Kin­shasa, Demo­c­ra­t­ic Repub­lic of the Con­go —  King Philippe of Bel­gium, in a his­toric vis­it to Con­go, said on Wednes­day that his coun­try’s rule over the vast cen­tral African coun­try had inflict­ed pain and humil­i­a­tion through a mix­ture of “pater­nal­ism, dis­crim­i­na­tion and racism.”  In a speech out­side Con­go’s par­lia­ment, Philippe ampli­fied remorse he first voiced two years…

Chad: Hundreds stage anti-French Protest In N’djamena | Africanews

Hun­dreds of Cha­di­ans joined anti-French protests called by the oppo­si­tion coali­tion Wak­it Tama on Sat­ur­day, May 14.
Pro­test­ers oppose France’s mil­i­tary pres­ence in the coun­try and sup­port for tran­si­tion­al Pres­i­dent Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno, who has been in pow­er since his father’s death in 2021.
They report­ed­ly attacked “sym­bols” of their for­mer colo­nial pow­er, includ­ing sev­er­al Total petrol stations.

The protest was main­ly attend­ed by stu­dents with many on moto­cy­cles and chant­i­ng “France get out”.
**“Now France is med­dling in pol­i­tics, we don’t know, now the whole Cha­di­an ter­ri­to­ry is occu­pied by the French army. The French army is con­cerned with the wealth of Chad’s sub­soil and not with the well-being of the Cha­di­an people.”**Souleyman Tahir, Protester
For­mer pres­i­dent, Idriss Déby Itno, head­ed an author­i­tar­i­an regime for 30 years and was killed in bat­tle on April 20, 2021, dur­ing a rebel­lion in the north of the country.
Cha­di­an police fired tear gas and used water canon to dis­perse hun­dreds of pro­test­ers who took to the streets of the cap­i­tal and oth­er towns in an anti-French protest that saw the destruc­tion of some French-linked businesses.
The protest was called by Cha­di­an civ­il soci­ety coali­tion Wak­it Tam­ma to denounce France’s back­ing of the Tran­si­tion­al Mil­i­tary Coun­cil that seized pow­er fol­low­ing the bat­tle­field death of Pres­i­dent Idriss Deby in April 2021, a spokesman said.
As France’s influ­ence wanes in its for­mer colonies, recent protests in coun­tries such as Mali, Burk­i­na Faso and Niger have seen calls for increased mil­i­tary ties with Rus­sia instead of France.