The government claims that the situation is under control and that it has thwarted a plot to destabilize the nation.
According to a government spokesperson, a disorganized group of drunken men with knives and machetes carried out an unsuccessful attempt on Chad’s presidential compound overnight, but they were quickly routed by security troops.
As the military closed off nearby streets on Wednesday night, gunshots burst near the president’s office in the capital, N’Djamena. Later, the government said that the situation was under control and that it had stopped an attempt to destabilize the nation.
The incident comes as Chad, a crucial Western ally in the war against Islamists in the Sahel region of West and Central Africa, just canceled a defense cooperation agreement with longtime partner France.
For more than ten years, the area has been the target of numerous attacks by insurgencies, including those affiliated with Daesh, Al Qaeda, and Boko Haram.
Recently, military leaders in Chad’s neighboring countries of Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger have abandoned the West in favor of Russian military assistance.
Government spokesperson Abderaman Koulamallah said in a national television interview that 24 attackers, who appeared to be under the influence of narcotics and alcohol, drove up to the presidential property, dismounted, and stabbed the four guards stationed at the gate, killing one and wounded two.
After entering the presidential palace a short distance, the group was shot at by guards, who killed 18 of them and took the other six into custody, according to Koulamallah.
“Not an act of terrorism”
He noted that it was “probably not” a terrorist act, but the public prosecutor will give further information.
“I won’t disclose the neighborhood in N’Djamena from which these individuals come from. Their attempt was ill-planned and totally unintelligible, and they lacked battle weapons.
On Thursday morning, N’Djamena was at peace as everyday activities resumed. Although several locals claimed the military was still preventing entry to neighborhoods surrounding the presidency, there was no more gunfire during the night.
“I am not worried,” Hassan Abdelkerim, a university student, stated. “Our president warned us that we would face difficult days because of the breakdown in cooperation with France, and I know that this sort of thing will happen.”
Wang Yi, the foreign minister of China, was in the country on Wednesday when the attack occurred.
On Thursday, Yi’s spokesperson reported that the foreign minister had effectively wrapped up his tour and that China had taken note of the attack reports.
After his father, longtime President Idriss Deby, was slain by insurgents, Mahamat Idriss Deby took over as president of Chad.
