Madar (N'Djamena) - Chad's Vice-Prime Minister for Territorial Administration, Limane Mahamat, announced on Friday, October 16, 2026, in Bardaï, in the northern province of Tibesti, the closure of the administrative inquiry into the Tourkou events and the referral of the case to the courts, according to Tchadinfos. The move comes as the Miski gold-mining area in the same province faces renewed tension after deadly clashes.
According to the government delegation's findings, a complaint filed by relatives of the victim, Tahir Souleymane Arim Itno, made it possible to name several people suspected of involvement. With no established court in Tibesti, the Supreme Court decided on October 12 to assign the case to the N'Djamena Court of Appeal, whose prosecutors plan to send a magistrate and judicial police officers to Bardaï. Both communities agreed, through their traditional leaders, to rely on the courts; no civil settlement has been reached so far.
The killing of Tahir Souleymane Arim Itno had sparked tensions between two communities in Tourkou, in Wour department, leading to the abduction of 14 people held by both sides for about 72 hours, according to the authorities. They were released unconditionally on October 8, a day after the delegation arrived in Bardaï.
In Miski, the army general staff said two officers were killed and nine wounded in the Mining Brigade during an exchange of fire on October 14, accusing the Miski self-defence committee of violating the peace accords and demanding it lay down its weapons immediately, warning that any refusal would be treated as "an act of rebellion." The committee called on its members to stop firing and return to their positions, sought a new intervention by the government and the Ombudsman, and blamed some Mining Brigade officials. No independent toll could be established.
The tensions stem from a 14-article peace accord signed in Bardaï on April 20, 2025, between the government and the self-defence committee under Ombudsman Saleh Kebzabo, which provides for integrating the committee's fighters into the security forces and suspending mining in Miski. According to sources at the Prime Minister's office and the Ombudsman's office quoted by Tchadinfos, the accord's follow-up commission was never formally set up, although the government delegation announced on October 3 in Miski a provisional ban on gold mining.
