Chad: 246 FACT rebels handed over by the army to justice

The Chadian army has reportedly handed over 246 prisoners of war, including 11 minors and five leaders of the FACT rebellion, to the courts. Several of them were presented on Saturday at the premises of the national gendarmerie in Klessoum. The public prosecutor at the High Court of N’Djamena, Youssouf Tom, is in charge of the case.

The prisoners of war were handed over by the Chadian army to justice. « The adults will be placed at the disposal of the prosecutor for the judicial procedure. They are well treated and have enough to eat, » says the Director of Military Operations and Research.

« In accordance with the conventions, there will be a sorting so that minors have a special procedure and are handed over to UNICEF because they have been forcibly recruited, » according to Youssouf Tom, the public prosecutor at the High Court of N’Djamena.

« The international law protecting them will be applied. On the other hand, concerning adults, legal proceedings will be initiated against them so that the law is said, » he said. On the other hand, some political actors and organisations had considered that minors are also victims of the armed forces. They called for their release.

It should be recalled that since 11 April, several columns of the Front pour l’alternance et la concorde au Tchad (FACT) had descended from the Libyan border and had advanced into Chadian territory in the direction of N’Djamena. But the rebels were no match for the formidable Chadian army, even after the death of President Marshal Idriss Déby Itno, who was replaced in power by his son, Mahamat Déby Itno alias ‘Mahamat Kaka’.