In a speech on national television and radio, President Deby said the nationwide state of emergency would help restore security. The state of emergency began Friday, and is set to last 15 days. In his broadcast speech, Mr. Deby said, what he called the "exceptional measures" were necessary to "assure the regular functioning of the state."Under the constitution, the state of emergency allows the government to control movement of people and vehicles, ban meetings, and control what is published in the media. A midnight to dawn (6:00 a.m.) curfew has been imposed across the country.
Olivier Bercault, of the New York-based advocacy group Human Rights Watch, says the government must do all it can to ensure security, but that basic human rights should not be violated in the process. And he says in Chad, they have been. "It is really amazing that we are going back to the time of Hissene Habre when the country was run by a dictator and I hope that the situation is going to improve very, very fast," he said. "Civilians [are] start[ing] to get their old reflexes, and [are] afraid to talk publicly, and to be seen with more than three or four people in the streets." Human rights activists accuse Habre, Chad's former leader, of ethnic massacres, political killings, and torture. He denies the accusations.