Politics · unity government pitchChad's Pardoned Ex-PM Pitches Unity Government From PrisonAired August 17, 2026 at 12:41 AM UTCWritten September 7, 2026 at 9:26 PM UTCRead the write-upThis storyTranscript · LOADING0:00Chad's former prime minister left prison0:02August 14th on a presidential pardon0:04>> [music]0:04>> and is now proposing a unity government0:06with the president who jailed him saying0:08he first pitched the idea while still0:10behind bars. Succès Masra leads Les0:12Transformateurs [music] and contested0:14the 2024 presidential election against0:16President Mahamat Idriss Déby who now0:18controls [music] whether any unity0:20government moves forward. He had been0:21serving a 20-year sentence and had spent0:24more than a year in prison before the0:26August 14th pardon [music] which covered0:28nine people in total. Masra and eight0:31other opposition figures. [music] The0:33conviction was for inciting violence and0:35hateful messages linked to violence in0:36southwestern Chad that killed at least0:3842 people. [music]0:39The August 14th pardon was framed as a0:41national unity effort. The pardon does0:44not erase the convictions leaving those0:46pardoned still prosecutable. Whether the0:48president will accept, what structure0:49and roles a unity government would have,0:51>> [music]0:51>> and under what legal conditions0:53re-prosecution could occur remain0:55unresolved along with the detailed0:56timeline of the southwestern violence.0:59The proposal and the account of pitching1:01it from prison have not yet been1:02independently corroborated leaving the1:04next move with the presidency.1:07Like and follow for more stories that1:09matter.Explore with HeyDexThe shortThe short ↗