Chad Bans Opposition Parties for Two Months Over Protest March

(Bloomberg) -- Chad banned ten small opposition political parties for two months and closed their offices after they went ahead with a street protest on Tuesday that the government had prohibited.

The decision was announced on state radio by Public Security Minister Ahmat Bachir on Thursday as labor unions and the opposition prepared another march in the capital, N’Djamena, to protest salary cuts for public workers, high fuel prices and an increase in university fees.

“Chadiens have a right to live better than this,” Djimet Clement Bagaou, a member of the group of opposition parties that organized Tuesday’s protest, told reporters. “We’re urging to government to postpone the austerity measures, which are threatening the country’s stability.”

Civil servants began a general strike on Monday following salary cuts that the government says it has to implement to comply with a wage ceiling agreed to under a bailout with the International Monetary Fund. Hospitals and clinics will no longer be affected by the general strike, the unions said in a statement.

To contact the reporter on this story: Daniel N'doh Nadjitan in N'Djamena at nnadjitan@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Karl Maier at kmaier2@bloomberg.net, Pauline Bax, Gordon Bell

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