Catholic bishops withdraw from Chad’s inclusive national dialogue, cite lack of ‘dialogue’

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They note that “dialogue is based on listening to the other, and the verb to dialogue can be summed up as follows: to get closer, to express oneself, to listen to one another, to look at one another, to get to know the other, to try to understand, to look for points of contact.

“We have the impression of attending an electoral campaign with, on the one hand, those who support change and a renewal of the political class and, on the other, those who block everything and want to continue as before by putting put in place a skillfully orchestrated machine,” say the Catholic bishops of the crossroads of the North and Central African nation.

DNI, which was originally scheduled for February but has been repeatedly postponedis being held less than two weeks after the Chadian junta and 40 rebel groups sign an agreement in Doha.

In April 2021, President Idriss Déby Itno, who had led the country since 1990, died after succumbing to his wounds in a battle with the Front for Change and Concord in Chad (FACT), a dissident army rebel group in the north of the country.

After his death, a transition council of military officers led by Deby’s son, Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno, as interim president, began to oversee Chad’s transition period for the next 18 months.

The council issued a charter that defines the role of members who should be appointed to the national transitional council, a charter that was rejected by opposition parties in the country.

In their two-page collective statement, the Catholic Bishops of Chad say, “This dialogue, both political and social, must above all bring together political actors and those of civil society, many of whom are still on the outside.”

“Together with other religious leaders and some sages, we have taken the initiative to offer our mediation services in order to integrate the absentees”, declare the members of the CET, who add: “But as we move forward, we we see that the inclusiveness and sovereign nature of this dialogue is eroding.

“While we continue to mediate with those outside, some participants have left the dialogue or are threatening to leave in protest at the confusing way in which the rules of procedure were adopted and the totally bizarre way in which the consensus was reached. achieved in the appointment of the presidium”, explain the leaders of the Catholic Church.

They note that the Chadians “expect a lot from this dialogue, because the conclusions must make it possible to restore the constitutional order broken with the unexpected death of the President of the Republic”.

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