Overview

• Succès Masra, opposition leader and former prime minister, was arrested at his residence on May 16 by armed men in military uniform, according to his party.
• Prosecutor Oumar Mahamat Kedelaye announced Masra is under investigation for incitement to hatred, complicity in murder, and desecration of graves linked to recent intercommunal violence.
• The clashes in Logone Occidental reportedly killed 42 people, mostly women and children, amid tensions between herders and farmers over land use.
• Masra's party, Les Transformateurs, condemned the arrest as an unconstitutional abduction aimed at silencing political dissent.
• The arrest follows Masra's contested 2024 presidential election loss to President Mahamat Déby, amid ongoing criticism of Chad's extended transition to civilian rule and shrinking democratic space.