Battle of N'Djamena (2008) - Arrests of Opposition Leaders

Arrests of Opposition Leaders

Government soldiers reportedly arrested opposition leaders Lol Mahamat Choua, Ibni Oumar Mahamat Saleh and Ngarlejy Yorongar on February 3. They were also said to have attempted to arrest Saleh Kebzabo, but he was not present at his home.

The government denied the reported arrests of the opposition leaders, saying that they had gone missing in rebel-controlled parts of the city, but it later acknowledged that Choua was being held with prisoners of war, and the French ambassador was allowed to visit him in a military prison. He was freed from prison before March. Eventually, Yorongar also reemerged: he was found in Cameroon on March 2. He reached France on March 6, and claimed to have fled from Chadian security forces that had captured him. He added that he had seen Ibni Oumar Mahamat Saleh being punched and kicked by the same forces, perhaps to death.

The crackdown by the security forces, according to Human Rights Watch, involved other individuals, and was legalized with the proclamation of a state of emergency on February 14, conceding sweeping powers to security forces to arrest and detain people without charge. By March 15, 2008, when the state of emergency expired, 15 Chadians had been arrested. Human Rights Watch suspects the actual number is higher. Of those arrested, 11 are from the Gorane ethnic group, the same of Mahamat Nouri, the main insurgent commander, which has raised fears that the government is arresting people at least in part for their ethnicity. Human rights campaigners said that many Goranes were fleeing from the capital.

The European Union expressed "deep concern" over the arrests, and EU Development Commissioner Louis Michel called for the "immediate release" of the opposition leaders.