Chad rebel talks set for new postponement after mediator change

Chad’s ruling junta on Wednesday changed mediators in talks with the country’s armed rebels, a move that sources said pointed to a further postponement in the delicate process.

So-called precursor talks between the junta and some 20 rebel groups are due to open on Sunday in Doha, the capital of Qatar.

The meeting is a key step for coaxing armed groups into an “inclusive national dialogue” in May — the centrepiece of junta leader Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno’s declared aim of charting the way back to elected government.

Deby took the helm last April after his father, veteran iron-fisted president Idriss Deby Itno, died fighting rebels in the north of the country.

The Qatar talks have already been postponed from February 13 and may be delayed again after Deby ditched the mediation panel he himself had appointed, said sources familiar with the negotiations.

Under a decree issued Wednesday, a “special technical committee” chaired by former president Goukouni Weddeye is to be replaced by a body called the “special committee tasked with leading negotiations”.

Its head is Cherif Mahamat Zene, who was appointed foreign minister by the junta.

The 25-member body incorporates 10 members of the previous mediation panel.

The government refused a request to comment on the change.

Weddeye disclosed that  “I haven’t resigned, contrary to what has been said on social media, but we were surprised by the decree this morning.”

He made no further comment, but said his panel would meet “very shortly to look at all the aspects and adopt a clear position” with regard to the appointment of the new committee.

Chad has a long history of volatility since gaining independence from France in 1960.

It has a large and shifting constellation of rebel movements with varying ethnic affiliations and goals.

The elder Deby himself came to power in 1990 at the head of a rebel force which rolled into the capital.

In 2008 and again in 2016, columns of fighters came close to forcing him out, but each time were thwarted by French airstrikes.

His son Mahamat, a 38-year-old four-star general, has already stirred ructions within rebel groups by offering an amnesty to fighters who lay down their arms.

Several prominent figures have already returned to N’Djamena, stoking accusations of selling out or betrayal from former comrades-in-arms.