The man lives up to his name. This Monday, one of the main Chadian opponents, Succès Masra, was appointed Prime Minister by transitional president Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno. “Doctor Succès Masra is appointed Prime Minister, head of the transitional government,” announced the Secretary General at the Presidency of the Republic, Mahamat Ahmat Alabo, on state television.
The president of the Les Transformateurs party had been among the most virulent opponents of the military power in place for two and a half years, after the death of Idriss Déby Itno, in April 2021, who ruled the country with an iron fist for thirty years . A few days before the referendum vote on December 17, Succès Masra had however publicly called on his camp to vote yes for the new constitution promulgated on Friday, a key step supposed to open the way to elections.
An agreement with Kinshasa
During the referendum campaign, he put forward the argument that the adoption of the project would also accelerate the end of the transition while the rest of the opposition, strongly divided, called for a vote no or a boycott of the vote. Eric Arsène, 35 years old and Transformers activist, welcomes the appointment of this politician as head of government, “to redress the political and economic situation of the country. This appointment is part of the logic of the Kinshasa agreement to calm the political climate. »
In the “agreement in principle” signed in the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and announced on October 31, the Chadian government was “committed” to “facilitate the return” of Succès Masra, “in security legal and physical”, “guaranteeing the free exercise of its political activities”. In return, the opponent promised to “continue the dialogue (…) with a view to a peaceful political solution” in Chad where he had until then contested the power of General Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno, proclaimed transitional president by a military junta in 2021.
An exile after a bloody demonstration
Like several other opposition leaders, Succès Masra was forced to go into exile a few days after a demonstration on October 20, 2022 against the maintenance of the military in power, who had just extended an 18-month transition by two years. from which they had initially promised to return power to civilians through elections. Around fifty people were killed that day according to the authorities, between a hundred and 300 according to the opposition and local and international NGOs, with almost all of the young demonstrators shot dead by the military and the police, mainly in N’Djamena.
Several opposition parties had distanced themselves from Succès Masra, also expressing their disagreement with the general amnesty pronounced for “all Chadians, civilians and military” involved in the events of “Black Thursday”.