Masra is one of the main figures opposed to President Mahamat Idriss Deby, who seized power after his father, who spent three decades in power, was killed fighting rebels in 2021
Chad’s former prime minister and opposition leader Succès Masra was arrested Friday for his alleged involvement in a clash between herders and farmers in the country’s southwest a day earlier, the country’s prosecutor said.
Public prosecutor Oumar Mahamat Kedelaye said fighting Thursday in Chad’s southwestern Logone Occidental province left 42 people dead and several homes burned.
Clashes between herders and farmers, who accuse the herders of grazing livestock on their land, are common in the Central African country.
The prosecutor said Masra is being investigated on charges of inciting hatred and revolt through social media posts that called on the population to arm themselves against a community in the area. It was unclear what specific posts he was referring to. Other charges against the former prime minister include complicity in murder, formation and complicity in armed groups, the desecration of graves and arson.
Masra’s Transformers party said earlier in a statement that their leader was “kidnapped” from his residence and expressed “deep concern over this brutal action carried out outside any known judicial procedures and in blatant violation of the civil and political rights guaranteed by the constitution.” Ndolembai Sade Njesada, the party’s vice president, released video appearing to show armed men in uniforms escorting Masra out of a residential building.
Masra is one of the main figures opposed to President Mahamat Idriss Deby, who seized power after his father, who spent three decades in power, was killed fighting rebels in 2021.
In 2022, Masra fled Chad after the military government suspended his party and six others in a clampdown on protests against Deby’s decision to extend his time in power by two more years. More than 60 people were killed in the protests, which the government condemned as “an attempted coup.”
Following his return from exile, Masra was appointed prime minister in January 2024 in a bid to appease tensions with the opposition, four months before the presidential election. Deby won the election, but the results were contested by the opposition, which had claimed victory and alleged electoral fraud. Masra resigned from his role as prime minister shortly after the election.
Earlier, Sudan’s government has extended the opening of the Adre border crossing with Chad by three months, to facilitate humanitarian aid deliveries, particularly to the war-torn Darfur region, the foreign ministry said.
The ministry on Monday said the extension underscored Sudan’s commitment to using all available border crossings to alleviate suffering. A previous three-month extension had been granted in mid-November 2024.
The Adre crossing is a key route for aid reaching western Sudan, and UN agencies have warned that its closure would severely hamper humanitarian efforts.
Sudan has demanded guarantees that the crossing will not be used for weapons smuggling to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and that aid deliveries will not be impeded by “militias.” The government has accused the RSF of using the crossing for weapons transport.
Sudan has been gripped by conflict between the army and the RSF since mid-April 2023. While official figures are lower, research groups estimate the death toll is significantly higher than the 29,683 fatalities reported by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data by the end of 2024, as cited by the United Nations.
Earlier the United Nations (UN) has launched a $6 billion humanitarian appeal to assist nearly 26 million Sudanese affected by the ongoing conflict, both inside Sudan and in neighbouring countries, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) announced in a statement on Monday.
The statement announced the launch of the 2025 Sudan Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan and the Regional Refugee Response Plan, requiring 6 billion to assist nearly 21 million people inside Sudan and up to 5 million refugees in neighboring countries.
“Sudan is a humanitarian emergency of shocking proportions,” Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher was quoted in the statement as saying.
