Chad's ex-PM provisionally detained on inciting hatred charge

Chad's former Prime Minister and opposition leader Succes Masra was placed in provisional detention on Wednesday nearly a week after being arrested on suspicion of inciting hatred, his lawyers said.

Masra faced off against President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno in presidential elections a year ago, winning 18.5% against Deby's 61.3% but claimed victory.

One of Deby's fiercest opponents, Masra was arrested on May 16 after being accused of inciting hatred in connection with deadly clashes in the southwest of the country.

He faces several charges that also include revolt, formation and complicity of armed groups, complicity in murder and arson.

Deadly violence

His lawyers said that Masra, who has been in police custody since his arrest, had been brought before a public prosecutor and an investigating judge, who ordered his provisional detention.

Two days before his arrest, violence claimed the lives of 42 people, mostly women and children, in Mandakao in the Logone-Occidental region, legal officials have said.

One local source said that the cause of the violence was thought to be a dispute between ethnic Fulani nomadic herders and local Ngambaye farmers over the demarcation of grazing and farming areas.

Conflicts between pastoralists and sedentary farmers are estimated by the International Crisis Group to have caused more than 1,000 deaths and 2,000 injuries between 2021 and 2024.

Claims of marginalisation

Masra, who comes from the south, is ethnic Ngambaye and enjoys wide support in the region, whose people are mostly Christian and animist and complain of being marginalised by the mostly Muslim central government.

The 41-year-old economist, who trained in France and Cameroon, was a fierce opponent of the ruling authorities before they named him prime minister five months before the presidential election.

He served as premier from January to May last year.