The German ambassador must leave Chad within 48 hours, according to a statement from the government of Chad.
“This decision of the government is motivated by the discourteous attitude and the non-respect of diplomatic customs,” the country’s communication ministry said on Twitter late on Friday.
Government spokesman Aziz Mahamat Saleh urged the ambassador to “leave Chadian territory within 48 hours”.
According to two government officials in Chad, Ambassador Gordon Kricke had criticised both the decision made last year allowing Mahamat Idriss Deby, the temporary military leader, to run in the 2024 elections as well as the delays in holding elections after the coup.
Although the German foreign ministry remained silent on Kricke’s deportation, a person familiar with the ministry’s thinking told Reuters that the decision was “completely incomprehensible” and that the ministry was in contact with Chadian authorities.
Since July 2021, Kricke has been in the position. He has previously worked as a diplomat in the Philippines, Angola, and Niger. Also, he served as Germany’s special envoy in the volatile Sahel.
On condition of anonymity, a government source told AFP that Kricke was viewed as “interfering too much” in national governance and making contentious statements.
The insider stated that he had received numerous warnings.
When Deby took control of the nation after his father, President Idriss Deby, was slain on the battlefield during a struggle with rebels, ending decades of autocratic rule, military authorities in the nation first pledged an 18-month transition to elections.
However, the military government last year extended the deadline by two years, delaying elections until October 2024. This sparked protests that resulted in the deaths of dozens of civilians, alarmed regional powers, and alarmed the US, which had previously warned against the extension of military rule.
The country, which borders Libya, Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, and Sudan, received harsh criticism from a large number of ambassadors for the violence.
Together with other embassies, including those of France, Spain, and the Netherlands, Germany’s expressed alarm over the protracted transition to democracy.
