Chad opposition to boycott tense presidential poll

Mar 30, 2006 (N’DJAMENA) — Chad’s main opposition parties will boycott a May presidential poll which President Idriss Deby hopes will extend his 15-year rule in the central African country, a final candidate list showed on Thursday.

Deby, who first seized power in 1990 and won elections in 1996 and 2001, will face two candidates from allied parties and two members of his own government — whom the main opposition accuses of standing simply to legitimise the election.

Facing armed revolt from rebels and army deserters around Chad’s eastern border with Sudan’s unruly Darfur province, Deby is expected to try to consolidate his control over the poor, landlocked country which began pumping crude oil in 2003.

A rebel leader has threatened to stop the poll and sporadic violence has rumbled on with more clashes reported on Thursday.

A referendum last year approved a constitutional amendment abolishing a two-term limit for presidents, clearing the way for Deby to stand for a third elected term.

Ngarledjy Yorongar, Deby’s closest challenger in the 2001 poll, was refusing to stand and a hardline opposition alliance has urged supporters to prevent an election it calls “a masquerade”.

STALKING HORSES

Chad’s Constitutional Council published the final candidates list on Thursday, confirming all five nominees could stand.

Facing Deby will be his Agriculture Minister Albert Payimi Padaket, Deputy Minister for Decentralisation Mahamat Abdoulaye, Delwa Kassire Coumakoye, who ran for president in 1996 and 2001, and the relatively unknown Ibrahim Koulamallah.

Kassire and Koulamallah both lead parties allied to Deby’s Patriotic Salvation Movement (MPS) which are accused by the opposition of standing simply to make the election appear competitive, although the candidates deny the charges.

Lol Mahamat Choua, leader of a hardline opposition alliance, has called for an active boycott of the poll.

“You must use all means, in particular under the relevant provisions of our constitution, to oppose any attempt to seize, use or retain power through fraudulent methods or violence,” Choua told a political meeting last weekend.

Chad joined the ranks of Africa’s oil producers thanks to a nearly $4 billion pipeline built with World Bank backing.

But the Bank suspended loans to the country in January, accusing Deby’s government of breaching a 1999 agreement to set aside a portion of oil revenues for a “future generations” fund.

The government says it needs the money now, not least to boost security amid signs of increasing discontent within the army following a series of army desertions.

Government forces arrested 100 suspected coup plotters and launched an offensive against eastern rebels in mid-March after foiling what they said was a plot to assassinate Deby.

Rebel activities have compounded militia violence on Chad’s eastern border with Sudan’s Darfur province, where Deby accuses Sudanese forces of helping dissidents trying to topple him.

Rebel sources reported more clashes with Chadian troops on Thursday around Goz-Beida near Chad’s eastern border. Deby’s foreign minister said the fighting followed a raid by Sudanese mounted militia it says are backed by Khartoum.

(Reuters)