Chad Killings: Human Rights Watch Demands Independent Investigation

Lewis Mudge, Central Africa director for Human Rights Watch, said an investigation is needed to know how the protestors were killed.

“It’s clear that an impartial investigation is going to be needed to determine whether according to the prime minister, protestors did resort to violence”, said Mudge.


“But more importantly, to determine whether the security forces unlawfully resorted to lethal force across the country. So, an independent investigation into all responsible parties which includes officials regardless of their ranks, is going to be critical to determine accountability for the loss of life but also to determine that the use of force was only used as a last resort”, he noted.


Mudge says military leaders need to give up power to contain any unrest.

“So, I think it will be very important for the transitional committee to move towards civilian rule as quickly as possible and not to continue to prolong this military rule”, said Mudge.


“As it’s now, we are facing quite a long time before we get any deadline for civilian rule and so we can anticipate further protests along the lines which we have seen yesterday. I think the big question is, will there be a continuing response by the security forces that we saw yesterday.”