On February 28, 2024, a key Chadian opposition politician, Yaya Dillo, was killed during an assault carried out by state security forces on his party’s headquarters in Chad’s capital, N’Djamena. A year on, authorities have yet to clarify the circumstances surrounding his death.
At the time of the incident, state prosecutor Oumar Mahamat Kedelaye said at a news conference that Dillo, president of the Socialist Party without Borders (Parti socialiste sans frontières, PSF), was killed during an exchange of gunfire with the security forces when they entered the PSF building.
Dillo was killed just months before elections held on May 6, 2024.
After the assault, Chadian authorities arrested scores of PSF members and members of Dillo’s family and transported them to the Koro Toro maximum security prison. Ten family members were unlawfully held there until December 2024 on charges against state security despite their acquittal by a court in July.
From the outset, Dillo’s death was suspicious. In the months after his killing, Reuters released a report in which five forensic experts asserted Dillo had been shot in the head at close range. Human Rights Watch has since spoken with a witness who said that Dillo was not armed when the security services stormed the PSF building and that he had yelled to his supporters to keep their hands up so they would not be shot.
When I discussed Dillo’s killing with Chad’s justice minister last summer, he insisted the matter was closed and required no further investigation. He said the only remaining action was for the courts to prosecute PSF members who may have resorted to violence.
The outcome of Chad’s elections last May was a fait accompli. International organizations were not permitted to monitor the vote, and the security forces instilled fear across the country following the results with their “celebratory shootings” that killed at least 11 people.
The lack of investigation into Dillo’s killing one year on marks a missed opportunity to stem the country’s descent toward political violence and impunity. A reckoning is imperative to stop this slide. It is now time for Chad’s partners and international experts to push for genuine accountability.
