The military power in Chad announced Thursday a general amnesty, particularly for police and soldiers, as part of a demonstration repressed in a bloodbath a little over a year ago.
Before its adoption, the amnesty project had raised an outcry in the ranks of the opposition and NGOs, who accused the government of shielding from justice the police and military personnel responsible for a "massacre" .
The National Transitional Council (CNT) adopted the amnesty law for 92.4% of the members of this legislative body appointed by General Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno , proclaimed by the army as transitional president two and a half years ago .
145 national councilors voted for, six against and two abstained, Abderaman Koulamallah, Minister of National Reconciliation, told AFP. As part of a desire for "national reconciliation" , according to the text, the law applies to "all Chadians, civilians and military" .
On October 22, 2022, demonstrators protested against the maintenance of the military in power, who had just extended by two years an 18-month transition at the end of which they had initially promised to return it to civilians through elections .
Around fifty people were killed that day according to the authorities, between a hundred and 300 according to the opposition and local and international NGOs, with almost all of the young demonstrators shot dead by the military and the police, mainly in N’Djamena.
A few days after what the opposition calls " Black Thursday" , the government announced that "several members of the police were also killed that day" . But, a year later, the transitional government only spoke of six, including three police officers in the capital.
To date, more than 400 young demonstrators, among at least 600 imprisoned, have been sentenced to prison for "insurrection" , before being pardoned by Mahamat Déby, then released. But no member of the police has been publicly incriminated, nor any arrests announced among them.
On October 20, 2022 and the days that followed, more than 600 young demonstrators, including 83 minors, were arrested, according to the government, and taken to the sinister Koro Toro prison in the middle of the desert.
After a month and a half in this penitentiary usually reserved for detainees of Boko Haram and the Islamic State (IS) group, more than 400 had been sentenced in a mass trial without lawyers.
The opposition and local and international NGOs had mentioned between 1,000 and 2,000 people arrested in large raids, dozens of whom have since gone missing, victims of "extra-judicial executions" or during their transport . in Koro Toro. Others were victims of acts of “torture” .
On April 20, 2021, General Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno, then aged 37, was proclaimed president at the head of a junta of 15 generals, following the death of his father Idriss Déby Itno, killed by rebels while surrendering. on the front after having ruled this Central African country with an iron fist for 30 years.
Mahamat Déby immediately promised to return power to civilians through elections at the end of an 18-month transition but, 18 months later, the government extended it for two years on the recommendation of a "National Dialogue" boycotted by a large majority of the opposition and among the most powerful of the rebel groups .
“Although the authorities immediately promised an investigation, all we have seen so far are unfair trials of demonstrators and the absence of serious investigations into those allegedly responsible for the killings,” he said . deplored Amnesty International on October 20.
“We maintain our demand for an international investigation ,” declared to AFP Adoum Mahamat Boucar, president of the Chadian League for Human Rights (LTDH), who criticizes a “ culture of impunity” .
A referendum is planned for December 17 for the adoption of a new Constitution paving the way for presidential and legislative elections in 2024. The vast majority of opposition parties are already calling for a boycott.
Morocco: 9 oil firms sanctioned for anti-competitive practices
Nine oil companies, including the French giant TotalEnergies, will have to pay the equivalent of more than 165 million euros in fines for anti-competitive practices in the hydrocarbon distribution market in Morocco, according to an official press release published Thursday.
The Competition Council reported agreements with these nine companies which put an end to a matter which caused much ink to flow in Morocco , one of the companies being owned by Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch .
“These agreements concern the payment, as a settlement, of a total amount of 1.84 billion dirhams ,” indicated the Competition Council.
The agreements also concern "a set of behavioral commitments to which these companies as well as their professional organization have subscribed in order to improve the competitive functioning of the hydrocarbon market in the future, to prevent the risks of harm to competition for the benefit consumers" , according to this source.
In 2020, the competition authority concluded an agreement between three oil companies dominating the Moroccan market - the French giant Total , Afriquia and Vivo Energy , Shell 's exclusive distributor in Morocco - and had sanctioned them financially, which did not had never been followed up on.
After Russia 's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 which caused oil prices to soar , the affair took a more political turn since Afriquia, the leader of the hydrocarbon market in Morocco, is owned by the current leader of the government (came to power in 2021) and businessman Aziz Akhannouch.
Devoid of hydrocarbons, Morocco imports all of its needs in petroleum products. After having subsidized fuels for a long time, the country liberalized the sector in 2015, leaving importers to freely set the price of fuel at the pump.
Since then, fuel importers have considerably increased their margins. And above all, prices remained almost unchanged from one station to another, fueling criticism and suspicions of price fixing.
In 2018, a report presented to a parliamentary committee sparked controversy concerning margins at the pump - between 1.2 and 1.5 billion euros in excess profit since 2015 according to estimates.
Third distributor of petroleum products and services in the Maghreb country, TotalEnergies Marketing holds an estimated market share of 15%.
South Africa: Oscar Pistorius obtains his conditional release
Former South African Paralympic champion Oscar Pistorius will be released from prison in early January, having obtained parole on Friday ten years after the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, in a case that captivated the planet.
“The Department of Correctional Services confirms the conditional release of Mr. Oscar Leonard Carl Pistorius, effective January 5, 2024,” the prison administration announced in a press release.
The former athlete will be free but "subject to surveillance" and obliged to stay within a certain perimeter of a suburb of the capital Pretoria, the administration added.
During his placement on parole, which "will last until December 5, 2029", Pistorius will have to follow a reintegration program including "therapy for his anger", as well as "on violence against women", the press officer told the press. spokesperson for the victim's family, Rob Matthews. He will also have to participate in work of general interest.
An ad hoc commission, made up of members of the prison services and ordinary civilians, met in the morning in the prison near Pretoria where Pistorius, 37, is still detained.
She considered that the “first-time offender” benefits from “positive support” and that his placement on conditional release is in accordance with the law.
Pistorius "did not rehabilitate" in prison, judged June Steenkamp, mother of the victim. “I do not believe Oscar’s version,” she added in a written statement submitted to the commission.
The family, which had not however formally opposed the request for early release, said it was "satisfied" with the conditions imposed on Pistorius.
- “Trenuous procedure” -
On the night of February 13-14, 2013, Oscar Pistorius shot dead his partner, model Reeva Steenkamp, 29, shooting four times through the bathroom door of her bedroom in his ultra-secure Pretoria home.
Rich, famous, the six-time Paralympic champion was crowned with glory at the time. He had become a sporting legend a year earlier by lining up with the able-bodied in the 400 meters at the London Olympic Games, a first for a double leg amputee.
“Blade Runner”, as he is nicknamed in reference to his carbon prostheses, claims to have believed in the presence of an intruder. He was sentenced to five years in prison for manslaughter following his first trial in 2014.
The prosecution considers justice too lenient and calls for a reclassification as murder. In 2017, the Supreme Court of Appeal finally sentenced Pistorius to more than 13 years in prison. Abandoned by his sponsors, ruined, the fallen idol sells his house to pay his lawyers.
As part of his request for parole, Oscar Pistorius met Reeva Steenkamp's parents last year. A mandatory step aimed, according to the authorities, at ensuring that detainees “recognize the harm caused”.
In March, a first request was rejected. The prison services had estimated to everyone's surprise that Pistorius, sentenced to 13 years and 5 months in prison on appeal, had not served the minimum period of detention required.
In South Africa, prisoners can benefit from early release after half their sentence has been completed. Pistorius having been convicted at first instance, then several times on appeal, it was calculated that, according to a count starting from the date of his last conviction, he had not served the minimum time.
But the Constitutional Court contradicted this calculation, ruling last month that the counting should begin on the date of his first placement in detention.
The whole procedure was "very emotionally trying", the family's lawyer, Tania Koen, told AFP.