Chad Opposition Leader Accused of Foiled Attack on State Agency, Dies

Katarina Höije
·2 min read

(Bloomberg) -- Chad’s opposition leader Yaya Dillo was killed a day after Chad set a date for presidential elections that should return the country to democracy.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Dillo died leading an assault on the internal-security agency’s offices on Wednesday alongside several members of his Parti Socialiste sans Frontieres, or PSF, Chad’s public prosecutor Oumar Kedelaye told reporters in the capital, N’Djamena on Thursday. At least 26 people were arrested, he said.

Prime Minister Succes Masra confirmed Dillo’s death during the “sad events” this week, in a post on his official Facebook page.

Clashes erupted in N’Djamena on Wednesday after the government accused the PSF of an attack on the National State Security Agency. The violence is the latest escalation in tensions before elections on May 6 that may return the Central African oil producer to constitutional rule, three years after General Mahamat Deby seized power.

Kedelaye’s comments on Thursday contradicted earlier reports on Dillo’s death.

The opposition leader was wounded during an exchange of gunfire with security forces at his party headquarters on Wednesday, Agence France-Presse reported earlier, citing government spokesman Abderaman Koulamallah. The Paris-based broadcaster said it had spoken to Dillo, who denied involvement in the attack on the National State Security Agency, in which several people died.

Dillo had been expected to run in the election. He briefly fled Chad before a presidential vote in 2021 after his mother and son were killed when security forces tried to arrest him at his home in N’Djamena. Deby, who won the backing of the ruling party last month, is expected to compete after a constitutional change last year that paved the way for his candidacy.

(Recasts with public prosecutor’s statement.)

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

©2024 Bloomberg L.P.