Chad has accused General Abdel Fattah al Burhan’s army (SAF) of playing a key role in the assassination of its former president, Idriss Deby.
On Friday, Chad’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Abderaman Koulamallah, made the serious allegations, claiming that Burhan’s army is financing and arming terrorist groups to destabilize the region.
According to Koulamallah, these groups operate in Chad’s border areas and are part of a broader campaign led by SAF to support rebel factions.
The accusations focus specifically on the Zaghawa ethnic group, based in Sudan’s El Fasher region, which Chad says is behind the rebellion.
SAF officials are being held responsible for the insurrection, which the Chadian government links directly to the assassination of President Deby.
The Zaghawa group, led by Ousman Dillo, is said to have close ties to Chadian opposition leader Yaya Dillo Djerou, who was killed by Chadian forces earlier this year.
This isn’t the first time Zaghawa rebels have crossed into Chad.
In 2008, the group launched a lightning offensive that saw President Deby trapped in his palace before his forces pushed them back.
The rebellion resurfaced in 2021, when Deby died fighting other rebels in northern Chad, shortly after securing re-election for a sixth term.
In the wake of Deby’s death, his son, Mohamed Idriss Deby, succeeded him as president.
The conflict in Sudan, which began in April 2023, has already claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced millions.
