Africa

Chad opposition leader killed in army attack on party headquarters, party SG says

Yaya Dillo Djerou gives a press conference on April 30, 2021 in N'djamena. (AFP)

By AFP | Friday, March 1, 2024

Socialist Party Without Borders chief leader Yaya Dillo Djerou died during an army assault on the party HQ on Wednesday.

Chad's main opposition leader was "executed" at point blank range by soldiers, his party's general secretary Robert Gamb charged on Friday.

Socialist Party Without Borders chief leader Yaya Dillo Djerou died during an army assault on the party HQ on Wednesday.

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"It's an execution, they fired at him at point blank range to execute him for becoming a problem," Gamb said.

The headquarters of Chad's main opposition party to the ruling junta was then demolished on Friday after its leader was killed in an army assault on the building, AFP journalists saw.

Yaya Dillo Djerou was the leading opponent and cousin of Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno, who was proclaimed transitional president by the junta in 2021.

Dillo died on Wednesday after troops surrounded the Socialist Party Without Borders offices in the capital N'Djamena in what his party says was an "assassination".

Dillo, 49, had told AFP before his death that people wanted to "physically eliminate me" ahead of a May 6 presidential election due to return the central African country to constitutional rule.

A large excavator was demolishing the three-storey party building on Friday afternoon, AFP journalists saw.

An army security cordon kept people well back and armoured vehicles could be seen around the building.

The government had accused Dillo of leading an attack against the offices of Chad's internal security agency the night before his death.

He had "himself fired on the security forces", Communications Minister Abderaman Koulamallah said, adding four soldiers and three party militants, described as "assailants" and including Dillo, died in Wednesday's fighting.