Germany and Chad Exchange Expulsions Over Delay in Return to Democracy

A photo provided by the Multinational Joint Task Force in the region of Lake Chad shows 17 detained Boko Haram terrorists in this 2022 file photo. MNJTF

A diplomatic spat between Germany and Chad has again brought attention to the delayed return to democracy in the oil-rich Central African nation—still reeling from multiple crises two years after long-term leader Idriss Deby Itno died while fighting rebels.

On April 11, Berlin ordered Chad’s ambassador to Germany, Mariam Ali Moussa, to leave the country within 48 hours in response to a similar move by the landlocked country’s transitional authorities.

In a tweet, the German foreign ministry expressed its “regret that it had to come to this,” further describing Chad’s actions as “unfounded.”

Germany’s ambassador, Jan-Christian Gordon Kricke, flew out of Chad late on April 8.

Remadji Hoinathy is an expert in Chadian affairs. Courtesy of Remadji Hoinathy

Chad’s government spokesman Aziz Mahamat Saleh said in a statement posted on Twitter that the German envoy was expelled for being “impolite” and “disrespecting diplomatic practice.”

Kricke, who had served as Germany’s ambassador to Chad since 2021, had reportedly expressed concerns about delays to elections that would restore democracy following the April 2021 military coup.

He’s also alleged to have criticized the lack of transparency in investigations into last October’s violent opposition protests in which many civilians were killed.

Speaking to The Epoch Times from N'Djamena, Chad’s capital, a keen observer of Chadian politics, Remadji Hoinathy, described the tit-for-tat diplomatic spat between Chad and Germany as “a pity.”

Remadji, who is a senior researcher at the Institute for Security Studies covering Central Africa and the African Great Lakes, said he was “taken aback” by Chad’s move to expel the German ambassador given that “there has not been any sign of disagreements between the two states lately.”

“Chad’s decision might have been in response to remarks by the German ambassador on the transitional authorities’ delays in organizing elections,” he said.

“There may also be disagreements over the handling of the bloody events of October 2022. Whatever the case, Chad may just be acting to give a message to other diplomatic actors that its leaders are less and less ready to give any details on how the transitional process is being managed.”

He said Chad’s transitional authorities have received a lot of support from international partners and as a result, “any form of friction with any one of these partners is something that is bad for the transitional authorities’ reputation.”

‘Terrorism Bulwark’

Chad has long been led by an authoritarian military rule whose generals have aligned with France, but recent anti-French protests have shown that ordinary people have been fed up with both the oppressive regime and its so-called democratic European enabler.

Military ruler Idriss Deby Itno led Chad for more than three decades under an iron fist after he overthrew his pro-French former boss, Hissene Habre, in 1990.

In 2021, Deby was killed by the Front for Change and Concord in Chad (FACT) rebels, a group led by former military officers who have alleged ties with Russia.

His son Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno succeeded him without any election as the leader of the Transitional Military Council, following which Parliament was dissolved.

Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno and his allies haven’t yet disclosed any timetable for elections—a move that has upset many citizens who think France is behind the ongoing military rule.

Chadians have also held various grievances against Paris, which has profited from the country’s rich oil resources since its colonial times.

Multinational troops set fire to shelters used by Boko Haram insurgents on the southern shore of Lake Chad on March 30, 2022. Courtesy of Col. Muhammed Dole

Joshua Meservey, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Hudson Institute, also expressed surprise at Chad’s decision to expel the German ambassador, describing the justification given by the country’s leaders as “flimsy.”

“I’m similarly a little surprised at Germany’s retaliation, though it was entirely appropriate,” Meservey told The Epoch Times in an email.

“My guess is that the junta is trying to warn other ambassadors and countries that it won’t be pushed on the commitments it has made to transition to civilian rule, commitments it has already broken,” he wrote.

“It is good to see Berlin making it clear to Chad that there is a cost associated with bad behavior of that sort.”

Meservey said that it’s very unlikely that the imbroglio involving Germany will affect Chad’s relations with other European countries or the United States.

It’s a bilateral issue, and not “a grievous enough offense” to rally Germany’s allies, he said.

“I do think it might further diminish the junta’s reputation with those countries, however, as expelling the German ambassador was such an impetuous and petty move.”

Chad is important to the United States and European Union in the fight against extremism. It’s also seen as a buffer to prevent the unrest in its northern neighbor Libya from spreading south.

“Chad is a valuable ally in the fight against terrorism in the region, and Russia may be trying to destabilize or even overthrow the government as well, so I think those larger concerns will take precedence over this diplomatic spat,” Meservey said.

Critics Say Amnesty Inadequate

On Oct. 20, 2022, thousands of Chadians marched across the country following a call by the opposition denouncing the two-year extension of the “transition” headed by Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno.

Government forces arrested more than 600 protesters in N'Djamena, including some 80 minors.

A court in a high-security desert prison later sentenced 262 people to two to three years in prison after a mass trial with no lawyers. About 80 others—out of 401 people on trial—were given one- to two-year suspended prison sentences, and 59 were acquitted.

But 259 Chadian protesters who were pardoned in late March by the country’s transition president were freed on April 8. This was preceded last month by the freeing of 380 members of the FACT rebel group who were jailed in connection with the death of President Deby.

On March 21, the rebels were tried and found guilty of acts of terrorism, undermining national security, endangering the life of the head of state, and recruitment of minors, among other charges. They were handed life terms.

Chad’s justice minister, Mahamat Ahmat Alhabo, said that their release was to get them to ‘’reflect on the criminal act’‘ for which they were convicted with a view to ’'changing behavior to live a dignified, responsible life after reintegration.”

But critics have described the decision as a flash in the pan.

“The way those arrested are being judged is being condemned by the civil society and some political actors,” Remadji said.

“This measure is not sufficient to heal the wounds created by the October 2022 events. As far as there is no independent report on what really happened—how many people were actually killed, the number arrested and those still missing—the transitional authorities won’t absolve themselves from public criticism.”

Remadji noted that security threats posed by the FACT rebel group have greatly reduced although insecurity in Chad goes beyond just that.

“We have, in the western part of the country, Boko Haram around the Lake Chad region. That is a threat that Chad shares with its ... neighbors,” he said.

“We also have a lot of inter-community conflicts which, since 2021, have been raging in the country.

“On the diplomatic sphere, it is intriguing to see that Chad’s diplomatic ... war with Germany is escalating at a time when it is still trying to develop new diplomatic relationships with countries like Israel. Chad has opened an embassy in Tel Aviv.”

Meservey said the coup in Chad and the transitional authorities’ ploy to delay elections have kept the country on the same trajectory as it was under Deby, except for the fact that the junta is “more diplomatically isolated.”

“But the types of severe security challenges that Deby faced remain and the economy is struggling along,” he told The Epoch Times.

“Those problems, particularly the security challenges from Islamist terrorism and rebels, are not going away any time soon.”

The Wagner Question

Chad is one of the world’s least developed countries, being among the poorest and most corrupt states on the globe.

France is the former colonial power in the African state and recently faced backlash for its military presence in the region, mainly from the continent’s different local populations of Mali and Burkina Faso.

Anti-French sentiment has also been growing in Chad, which Meservey attributes to “long-simmering grievances about France’s traditional and, at times, very aggressive support for Deby and now his son’s regime.”

The Russians could be trying to take advantage of the anger that has flared up among some Chadians against the junta government, he told The Epoch Times.

“Though I haven’t seen any evidence this is the case, it would be in keeping with the Russian playbook if Moscow had a hand in fomenting the protests.

“The Wagner Group used anti-French propaganda in places like CAR and Mali to try to drive Paris out, and Wagner may have helped train the rebel group, FACT, that was fighting Chadian forces when Deby was killed in 2021.

“The U.S. also has intelligence demonstrating that Wagner has offered help to Chadian rebels to overthrow the junta government.”

But Remadji said that he remains skeptical about Chad’s connection with the Russian paramilitary group.

“Even though there is an anti-French feeling that is growing within the public opinion, we are far from what is happening in West Africa and we are also far from evidence on the presence of the Wagner group in the country be it with the transitional authorities or with the rebel groups.”