The President of Chad's Transitional Council, Mahamat Idriss Déby (right), with the Chadian Army Chief of Staff, General Abakar Abdelkerim Daoud, during independence celebrations in N'Djamena, August 11, 2023. DENIS SASSOU GUEIPEUR / AFP

The main arteries of the Chadian capital were blocked by the military on Tuesday, August 15, for an arriving VIP, forcing motorists to be patient. It was red carpet time in N'Djamena. At the airport, a Nigerien military plane landed, carrying Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine. Newly appointed by the ruling junta in Niamey, Prime Minister Zeine chose Chad for his first trip abroad. He was received by his counterpart, Saleh Kebzabo, before heading to the presidential palace for talks with transitional president Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno.

"We noted Chad's strong commitment to supporting Niger in this particular phase," Zeine said at the end of the meeting, while the military in Niamey is determined to stay in power. Abdourahmane Tiani, head of the junta, promised on Saturday, August 19, that the transition would not go "beyond three years," and called for a national dialogue. He warned against a military operation. "If there is aggression against us, it would not be the walk in the park that some people imagine," he asserted, as the chiefs of staff of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) met again on Thursday and Friday to draw up the outlines of an armed intervention to dislodge the putschists.

Chad does not support this operation. Although on July 30, the Chadian transitional president, mandated as mediator by ECOWAS, was the first to travel to Niamey, he has now distanced himself from the positions of the sub-regional organization, which his country does not belong to.

'We are a landlocked country'

N'Djamena has made it clear "Chad will never intervene militarily" in Niger, declared Defense Minister Daoud Yaya Brahim on August 4. "It would have been a very unpopular measure, economic and political suicide," explained a Chadian diplomatic source. Niger is one of Chad's vital supply corridors. "We are a landlocked country," Acheikh ibn Oumar, a presidential advisor noted, adding "We've already lost our access to Asia and the Middle East with the closure of the Sudanese border, we can't afford to close a gateway to the Atlantic."

N'Djamena has a privileged diplomatic channel with Niamey. "Military men understand each other. Let's not forget that in Chad, the putsch has already taken place," added a specialist in Central Africa, referring to Itno's accession to power outside any constitutional framework, following the death of his father, Idriss Déby Itno, during fighting in the north of the country on April 20, 2021. "One junta is not going to oppose another junta," argued opposition politician Yaya Dillo Djerou. "If the international community demands the reinstatement of Mohamed Bazoum, it must also demand the departure of Mahamat Idriss Déby."

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