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Opposition parties in Chad on Wednesday denounced President Idriss Deby Itno after hinting that military courts could be reinstated in order to stem ethnic violence.
Deby said Tuesday that he was concerned about violence between partners in escalating conflict between pastoralists and farmers – tensions that are familiar in other parts of the Sahel.
"We must absolutely put an end to this inhuman cruelty," he said in a speech in Ndjamena, the capital.
"All options" are on the table, including "the introduction of military courts," Deby said.
Saleh Kebzabo, president of the National Union for Development and Renewal (UNDR), said that "intercommunity conflicts are growing more and more".
Deby's remarks are "proof that [he] is unable to run the country without resorting to exceptional laws (…), it is proof that the current regime is at the end of the road. "
Mahamat Ahmat Alhabo of the Party for Freedom and Development (PLD) said Deby, 66, has been in power for nearly 29 years.
"(He) could not bring peace and security to Chad," he said. "Deby should take it on himself – that's the failure of his governance."
Eastern Chad is plagued by a cycle of violence between nomadic camel herders – many of whom belong to the Zaghawa ethnic group of which Deby is a native – and sedentary farmers in the community of Ouaddia.
The rows above the ground are rapidly deteriorating – last month, more than 31 people were killed.
Military justice for both civilians and the armed forces was abolished in Chad in 1993. In 2016, the country also abolished the death penalty, with the exception of "terrorism".
Deby's Patriotic Salvation Movement (MPS) defended the president's remarks, saying the justice system had failed to "dissuade some of our fellow citizens from expressing their hatred by violence."
"The restoration of military courts" could deter them, said Jean-Bernard Padare, a member of the MPS.
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