Rights groups in hiding in Chad
2008-02-20 18:05
N'Djamena - A security crackdown since a bloody rebel attack on Chad capital N'Djamena has forced half a dozen leading human rights campaigners into hiding or exile, activists say.
Their absence restricts scrutiny of the crackdown by President Idriss Deby's government, which activists say has included the abduction of several prominent opposition politicians from their homes by armed men in uniform.
"We know for sure that Chadian government security forces have shown up at the houses of various human rights activists in N'Djamena," said a human rights expert with knowledge of Chad, who declined to be named for fear of reprisals.
"Nobody is there to do the work or monitor the situation. For example, there's nobody to go and count the bodies."
Pan-African human rights organisation RADDHO said on Tuesday that Chadian opposition leaders and rights campaigners had been arbitrarily detained or forced into hiding.
'They are lying'
But Chad's interior minister, Mahamat Ahmat Bachir, denied reports that soldiers had been visiting houses of human rights activists and seeking to arrest them.
"That's not true, they are lying," he told Reuters. "The police are going about their normal activities. We are conducting searches for hidden weapons and rebels but this is normal straight after a war."
"Members of human rights associations are still here, as are leaders of political parties. If certain activists want to stay away and cause confusion, that's their problem," Bachir said.
Oil-producing Chad has a history of abuse. A number of human rights groups are active, some trying to bring exiled former leader Hissene Habre to trial for alleged political murders and torture during his 1982-1990 rule.
Ethnic targeting
Two opposition leaders have not been heard of since they were abducted on February 3, immediately after the violent rebel assault subsided. Their parties, as well as former colonial ruler France - which rallied to Deby's support and delivered ammunition to his forces - have asked the government to clarify their whereabouts.
The FAR/PF party of detained opposition politician Ngarlejy Yorongar issued a statement on Wednesday denouncing his detention and "assassination attempts on his close collaborators, notably his driver and members of his family".
The security crackdown has also targeted members of the Gorane ethnic group of Mahamat Nouri, leader of the UFDD rebel faction, said both the rights expert and Daniel Deuzoumbe, president of Human Rights Without Borders (DHSF) in Chad.
Speaking from abroad by telephone, Deuzoumbe said he had himself fled Chad after hearing about the arrests of the opposition leaders. Relatives say Chadian military have been visiting his home regularly, looking for him, he added.
"It's the first time since Deby came to power in 1990 that all leaders of these (rights) institutions have fled. It's unprecedented. It's a very sad and dramatic time," he said.