Chad: President Sacks Minister for Refusing to Swear Oath

The Minister of Civil Aviation, Transport and National Meteorology, Mrs. Amane Djibergui Rosine, was fired Thursday from the Chadian government for refusal to take an oath before the Supreme Court, according to the agreed procedure.

President Idriss Déby, present at the ceremony, took the decision after which he replaced the “rebel minister” immediately by the chief of staff special to the presidency of the Republic, General Mahamat Taher Rozzi.

According to the new constitution of Chad, ministers before taking office must take an oath before the President of the Republic during a solemn hearing of the Supreme Court, pronouncing a confessional formula enshrined in law. To do this, Muslim ministers get their hands on the Qur'an, their Christian colleagues on the Bible and those not the disciplines of any revealed religion have the opportunity to resort to ancestral rites.

In order not to surprise anyone, President Déby had met the religious leaders a day before to keep them informed of the arrangements made for the swearing in of members of the new government, set up last Monday.

During the ceremony, everything worked well until it was the turn of now ex minister, Amane Djibergui Rosine, who refused to read the piece of paper on which is written the consecrated formula.