The inclusive national dialogue, scheduled for May 10 in Chad, has been postponed to a later date, due to lack of agreement with the Chadian politico-military groups.
This looks like a dialogue of the deaf. When the Chadian reconciliation dialogue was supposed to begin, it was finally postponed by the local authorities. An additional fiasco after a "pre-dialogue" which began last March in Qatar, without ever really starting.
On March 13, the Front pour l'alternance et la concorde au Tchad (FACT), the rebel group accused, among other things, of the murder of former President Idriss Déby Itno, had decided to slam the door of talks with the Chadian government, notably accusing Doha of having an ambiguous position. A few days later, when he had resumed, the “pre-dialogue” had again been postponed.
What was to be an “inclusive national dialogue”, scheduled from May 10, was therefore also postponed to a later date. Without, as long as the Chadian Minister of Foreign Affairs announces this date. According to him, this postponement follows an “agreement from the highest authorities of the Transition for a postponement of the inclusive national dialogue”. A new date will be put forward shortly, after “consultation with the relevant institutions and political actors”, indicated the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chérif Mahamat Zene.
No deal, no dialogue
We seem to be far from a consensus surrounding this operation, decided at the end of last year. Indeed, on December 31, 2021, Mahamat Déby announced with great fanfare the holding of an inclusive national dialogue, which was to begin in mid-February. Since then, misunderstandings have followed one another while the dialogue was to make it possible to adopt a new constitution by referendum and “transparent, free, credible and democratic” general elections.
A report that owes a lot to Qatar. According to the Chadian authorities of the Transition, it is indeed Doha which would have asked to delay the national dialogue. The Gulf State asked that this postponement could “allow the negotiations underway in Doha with the politico-military to lead to an agreement”, affirms Chérif Mahamat Zene.
On April 20, the Chadian Foreign Minister expressed concern about the situation. “In the absence of an agreement with the politico-military before May 10, (…) the option of their participation in the inclusive national dialogue parallel to the 'pre-dialogue' of Doha could be explored under certain conditions”, he had written. on Twitter before assuring that "the government does not want to exclude anyone from the inclusive national dialogue".