Chad claims the thwarted presidential assault was by a disorganized, inebriated group

An attempted assault on the presidential compound in Chad was thwarted by security forces on Wednesday, according to a government spokesperson. The attack was executed by a disorganized group of intoxicated individuals armed with knives and machetes, who were swiftly subdued.

On Wednesday night, gunfire erupted near the president’s office in the capital, N’Djamena, as the military cordoned off the surrounding streets. The government later announced that security forces had successfully prevented an effort to destabilize the nation, asserting that the situation was fully under control.

In a subsequent interview on national television, government spokesperson Abderaman Koulamallah reported that a group of 24 attackers, seemingly under the influence of alcohol and drugs, arrived at the presidential compound in one or two vehicles that appeared to malfunction at the entrance. Upon disembarking, they assaulted the four presidential guards stationed there, resulting in one fatality and two injuries.

The assailants advanced a short distance into the compound before the guards returned fire, killing 18 and capturing the remaining six, Koulamallah stated. He indicated that the public prosecutor would release further information on Thursday, but suggested that the incident was “probably not” a terrorist act. “These individuals came from a specific neighborhood in N’Djamena, which I will not disclose. They were not equipped with military-grade weapons, and their actions were disorganized and utterly baffling.”

N’Djamena experienced a tranquil Thursday morning as daily activities returned to normal. There were no reports of gunfire overnight, although some residents indicated that the military continued to restrict access to areas surrounding the presidency.

Chad is currently governed by President Mahamat Idriss Deby, who took control following the death of his father, the former President Idriss Deby, who was killed by rebels while visiting troops engaged in combat against militias in the northern region in 2021.

The elder Deby had been in power since a military coup in the early 1990s, overseeing a nation rich in oil resources yet classified as one of the poorest in Africa. Recently, his son terminated a defense cooperation agreement with France, a long-standing ally that had positioned Chad as a crucial partner in combating Islamic extremism in the Sahel region of West and Central Africa, which has faced a series of coups in recent years.