CNA Staff, Apr 24, 2021 / 03:00 am
As Chad’s president was buried on Friday, Catholic bishops in the African nation urged warring parties to take part in an “inclusive national dialogue.”
Idriss Déby, who had led the country since 1990, died April 20 from injuries sustained in battle against a dissident army rebel group known as Change and Concord in Chad (FACT) in the north of the country.
Chad, a Muslim-majority nation of around 16 million people, is located in north-central Africa and bordered by Libya, Sudan, the Central African Republic, Cameroon, Nigeria, and Niger. According to the Pew Research Center, 23% of the population is Catholic.
In an April 22 statement, the bishops said that they joined “their voices to that of all Chadian men and women to call for an inclusive national dialogue which should be a dialogue of reconciliation.”