Chad’s opposition leader and former prime minister, Succès Masra, announced on Tuesday that he has begun a hunger strike while being held in detention for over a month.
In a letter addressed to his supporters and shared publicly by members of his party, The Transformers, Masra declared: “Beginning this evening, in solidarity with all of you and in protest against undeserved injustices, I shall start a hunger strike.”
Masra, who was a candidate in last year’s presidential election but failed to win office, has been in custody since 16 May. In his letter, he wrote: “I have been here for 40 days, still searching, no doubt like you, for the reason for my presence in this place.”
The charges against him are severe, including accusations of inciting hatred and revolt, forming and conspiring with armed groups, complicity in murder, arson, and desecration of graves.
His legal team filed for his provisional release on 19 June, but the request was rejected by judicial authorities. Francis Kadjilembaye, who coordinates Masra’s legal defence, described his detention as “arbitrary.” One of his French lawyers, Vincent Brengarth, added: “It is urgent that this detention and the unjustified proceedings against him be brought to an end.”
The accusations relate in part to an incident on 14 May in Mandakao, located in Chad’s southwestern Logone Occidental region, where 42 people—reportedly mostly women and children—were killed. Authorities allege that Masra played a role in provoking the violence.
Prosecutors have cited a 2023 audio recording as evidence. In a French translation of his remarks, originally spoken in the Ngambaye language, Masra is heard saying: “Let us teach each other how to use a firearm. Whether girl or boy, whether man or woman… let us all be protective shields.”
Masra’s lawyers argue that his words were taken out of context and point to an international arrest warrant that was issued based on this statement but subsequently withdrawn on 2 November 2023 after proceedings were discontinued.
A southerner from Chad’s Ngambaye ethnic group, Masra enjoys broad support among the predominantly Christian and animist communities in the south, who have long complained of marginalisation by the largely Muslim government centred in the capital, N’Djamena.
