Chad’s detained opposition leader ends hunger strike

KIGALI, Rwanda 

Chad’s opposition leader Succes Masra has ended a hunger strike after nearly a week, his lawyers said in a statement released by his party Monday.

Masra announced a hunger strike last week to protest his detention in the capital N’Djamena.

The leader of Chad’s main opposition party Les Transformateurs (The Transformers) and a former prime minister, Masra was arrested in the capital on May 16 following inter-communal violence in Logone Occidental province that killed 42 people on May 14.

Masra, “physically weakened but morally combative, suspended his food strike,” the statement said.

It added that he was particularly moved by the many gestures of solidarity, including those of women who protested Saturday to demand his release.

According to the lawyers, Masra also decided to end his hunger strike following the medical advice of his personal doctor, who recently examined him.

He is accused of multiple charges, including inciting hatred and violence through social media posts, complicity with armed gangs and complicity in murder.

Last week, Masra said that since his arrest more than a month ago, he, like his supporters, has been searching for the reason for his detention.

He ran in the May 2024 presidential election, which was won by then-transitional president Mahamat Idriss Deby.

Last month, Human Rights Watch called for the immediate release of Masra “if he is not charged with a valid offense.”

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