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Amnesty International Report 2000 - Chad

Head of state: Idriss Déby
Head of government: Nagoum Yamassoum (replaced Nassour Guelengdouksia Ouaidou in December)
Capital: N'Djaména
Population: 7.2 million
Official languages: French, Arabic
Death penalty: retentionist
1999 treaty ratifications/signatures: Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court

Armed conflict continued during 1999, particularly in the north of the country. There were reports of torture, arbitrary arrest and extrajudicial executions, both in the north and elsewhere. Freedom of expression was once again threatened and human rights defenders came under attack. A number of prisoners of conscience were detained briefly; another prisoner of conscience who had been sentenced after an unfair trial in 1998 was released.

Background

The government of President Idriss Déby continued to be threatened by armed conflict. A number of armed opposition groups were active, but the most serious threat to the government appeared to come from the Mouvement pour la Démocratie et la Justice au Tchad (MDJT), Movement for Democracy and Justice, led by Youssouf Tougoumi, a former minister of defence and justice under President Déby. The MDJT carried out military operations throughout 1999 in the northern Borkou-Ennedi-Tibesti (BET) region, in which scores of soldiers were reported to be killed.

A number of other, sporadically operational, armed opposition groups split into factions, some of which allied themselves to the government. In July 1999, three members of the Alliance nationale pour la Résistance (ANR), National Alliance for Resistance, were reportedly arrested in Sudan and deported to Chad. They subsequently allied themselves to the government. Other factions of the ANR remained opposed to the government. Serious and widespread human rights abuses have been committed in Chad in recent years associated directly or indirectly with insurgency, and it was unclear what effect the changing alliances would have on the human rights situation or the political stability of the country.

Chad/Cameroon pipeline

In November, one person was killed in N'Djaména in a violent demonstration protesting at the announcement that the oil companies Elf Acquitaine and Shell, two of the major stakeholders in an oil development project in southern Chad, were to withdraw from the project. The project, which involves the construction of a pipeline through Cameroon, was opposed by human rights groups and environmental groups, on the grounds of the impact on local populations in terms of cultural, social and economic rights and because of environmental concerns, as well as concerns relating to the management of the project by the government.

Human rights defenders

Human rights defenders continued to be threatened because of their work, and several were arrested and briefly detained during 1999. In January and February, members of three regional offices of the Ligue tchadienne des droits de l'homme (LTDH), Chadian Human Rights League, received death threats or were detained for short periods of time, solely because of their human rights work, in particular the denunciation of human rights violations. Members of human rights groups who criticized the project to develop and transport oil from southern Chad were also reported to have been threatened.

Release of a prisoner of conscience

Ngarléjy Yorongar le Mo'ïban was released on 5 February, after eight months in detention. In July 1998, Ngarléjy Yorongar was convicted of defaming President Déby and the President of the National Assembly and sentenced to three years' imprisonment. He had accused the President of the National Assembly of accepting money from a French oil company to finance his 1996 election campaign. The sentence was confirmed by the N'Djaména Court of Appeal in December 1998. Ngarléjy Yorongar's release was announced in a presidential decree which cited humanitarian reasons. AI had campaigned for the release of Ngarléjy Yorongar since his arrest, and in July 1998 sent an observer to his trial.

Torture

Cases of torture and ill-treatment, a longstanding concern, were reported throughout 1999, mainly in the early stages of detention. AI received information on detainees being beaten in detention and suffering broken bones as a result, of detainees being suspended by ropes by their feet as a form of torture, and of detainees being humiliated by interrogating officers. Many of the cases were reported to have been carried out by members of the gendarmerie.

Detention without trial

One person of a group of 12 people arrested in February 1998 remained in detention without charge. They had been detained after four French nationals were taken hostage by an armed opposition group in southern Chad. Ten of this group were reportedly released "for humanitarian reasons" during 1998, and one other died in detention in April 1998, possibly as a result of denial of medical care. All had reportedly been tortured. The motive for their arrests appeared to be solely that they came from the same area as the leader of the armed opposition group.

Three members of a new armed opposition group, the Action Committee for Freedom and Democracy (ACFD), were arrested in July 1999 in Logone oriental province, southern Chad. They were held without charge in N'Djaména. The group had been meeting local government officials. During the meeting, in circumstances which remained not entirely clear, there was an exchange of fire in which an ACFD bodyguard was killed and some members of the state delegation injured.

Intergovernmental organizations

In April, despite persistent serious human rights abuses in Chad, the UN Commission on Human Rights took the decision to stop consideration of the human rights situation of Chad under the confidential procedure established by UN Economic and Social Council resolutions 728F/1503. In May, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child considered the initial report of Chad. Among other things, the Committee urged the government to strengthen its measures to combat the practice of female genital mutilation. The Committee also expressed concern at the lack of resources available to support the rehabilitation and social reintegration of demobilized child soldiers. In its April session, the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights considered the initial report of Chad.