President of Chad accuses local media of corruption

Chadian President Déby has accused his country’s media of being “paid and supported by foreign powers”, after three journalists were arrested and accused of spying in early March, says Le Monde. 

On a March 15th interview broadcasted on a channel created by the government’s director of communication, the President has called for the media to “respect the laws of the republic and [to work according to] journalistic ethics”, warning that accreditation cards permitting presidential access would be only delivered to “serious medias”. Until now, government press access was almost exclusively granted to government-backed media.

In the last months, journalists, politicians, and civil society actors have been targeted by the regime’s security forces, in charge of silencing dissenting voices in the country.

Earlier in March, three journalists accused of spying for Russia were arrested and are now in detention, awaiting to be auditioned by a judge. One of them, Mahamat Saleh Alhissein, is accused of having translated documents obtained from Russia that detailed Russian military presence in the region, as well the economic situation in Sahel.

According to AFP, the authorities are accusing Alhissein of sharing “information related to security and economy” and of having “worked with Russian paramilitary group Wagner”. Other sources claim the editor of newspaper “Le Pays” was arrested because of his article on the inauguration of the Russian center of N’Djamena in 2024.

Mbaindinguim Monodji, another jailed “Le Pays” reporter and a correspondent to french media RFI saw his demand for release refused by the authorities, despite calls from NGO Reporters without borders (RSF) to free him and to stop pressuring the Chadian press. 

Three years after Mahamat Idriss Déby’s rise to power following the death of his father, the Chadian president obtained the departure of all French troops with the support of his new partners: Russia, Hungary and the UAE. 

However, during the inauguration of the Russian center in the country’s capital, three Russian nationals were arrested, including an individual under EU sanctions for overseeing disinformation campaigns to promote Wagner in Africa. The three individuals, who had already been detained in Libya in 2019 on allegations of trying to manipulate elections, were freed more than a month after their arrest, with no comments from Chadian authorities.

Russian centres have been the soft power weapon in Russia’s campaign to create strategic ties in Africa and the Sahel, with 8 new Russian centres opening on the continent, including in Niger, Mali and Chad.

Le Monde, Maghrebi