Yaya Dillo Djerou, a leading opponent of Chad's ruling junta chief, has died in an army assault on his party headquarters ahead of a May election when he was set to be the main rival to his cousin and transitional president Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno.
It came amid high tension in the center of the capital N'Djamena on Wednesday, February 28, when soldiers surrounded the party's HQ and gunfire rang out and teargas was fired. The government spokesman said Thursday that four soldiers died and three party militants he described as "assailants."
The assault took place the day after Chad announced it would hold a presidential election on May 6, ending three years of junta rule when Deby Itno took power after his father was killed fighting rebels.
Yaya Dillo Djerou, 49, who led the opposition Socialist Party Without Borders (PSF), had been accused of leading an attack against the offices of the internal security agency overnight on Tuesday to Wednesday. Later, internet access was cut in the capital and the army carried out an assault on the party's main office, with automatic weapons fire heard.
Dillo died on Wednesday "where he had retreated, at the headquarters of his party," government spokesman Abderaman Koulamallah, who is also communications minister, said on Thursday.
"He didn't want to surrender and fired on law enforcement," he added. His body has been handed over to his family, with the funeral set for later Thursday, his family said.
Security forces had gone to arrest a PSF member accused by the government of an "assassination attempt" against the Supreme Court president 10 days earlier. The junta-led government blamed the party for the attack on the offices of the internal security agency as a reprisal. It said several people had been killed in the intelligence HQ attack but did not say who they were.
"Anyone looking to disturb the democratic process under way in the country will be prosecuted and brought to justice," the government warned Wednesday. Speaking to Agence France-Presse (AFP) shortly before his death, Dillo denied any involvement in the incident, denouncing the claim as a "lie" and politically motivated.
"I wasn't present," he said. "The desired goal is to prevent me, to physically eliminate me (...) to make me afraid so that I don't go to the election."
He also condemned the attempted attack against the Supreme Court president as "staged." He had regularly complained the ballot was rigged in advance for a victory by Deby Itno and demanded a change in the electoral calendar. Dillo had been an armed rebel turned minister and finally an opposition chief considered a dangerous rival for his cousin.
Deby Itno and Dillo were from the same Zaghawa ethnic minority, which for more than three decades has dominated the military and political elites. Dillo was a candidate for the presidency in 2021 against his uncle, Idriss Deby Itno. He fled the country in February of that year after security forces attempted to arrest him at his home. The commando-style raid left several dead including his mother and one of his sons.
Deby Itno was proclaimed transitional president at the age of 37 after his father, Idriss Deby Itno, was killed while fighting rebels in 2021. Mahamat Deby Itno had promised to hand power back to civilians and organize elections within 18 months but subsequently extended the transition by two years.
The opposition has asked the transitional president not to run for office in the central African country. He had told the African Union he would not run, but a constitution adopted in a December referendum allows him to do so.