Ibrahima Fall had been on the run in Addis Ababa for several days. His proposals for dates for a contact visit had been courteously rejected by N’Djamena, which had used the excuse of a busy schedule each time. Until about ten days ago when he was given a “firm and definitive no” when he had scheduled his arrival for last Friday, June 25.
The reason given was that “Chad does not support the cavalier methods of the African Union presidency,” said a senior Chadian official, who explained that the government had never received any notification in this regard from the African organization. “We immediately asked our embassy in Addis Ababa to tell him that he was not welcome,” said our source. This information was confirmed at the African Union.
But the malaise seems to go deeper, because N’Djamena is clearly questioning his appointment. “We are not against the person of Ibrahima Fall, but we do not accept the method used to appoint him,” said the senior Chadian official, criticizing “the methods contrary to the diplomatic practices of the African Union Commission during his appointment. ”
According to him, the Commission did not consult the Transitional Military Council, let alone its chairman, Mahamat Idriss Deby, when the choice was made for the Senegalese Ibrahima Fall, and it did not take “the trouble to officially notify us of this appointment. “We learned about it by consulting Facebook,” he choked, before deciding: Chad is not under the tutelage of the AU. “