France's Macron to attend Sahel summit in Chad by video due to pandemic

Violent protests flared in the capital on Saturday after the ruling party announced Deby's candidacy, and more protests are planned for the weekend, and on Monday when the summit is expected to start.

President Emmanuel Macron will take part in a summit on the situation in the Sahel by video call due to the spread of the COVID-10 pandemic in the region and travel restrictions in France, a presidential official said.

Macron and his defence and foreign ministers had been due to attend the two-day event on Feb. 15-16 in the Chadian capital N'Djamena. Chad has reported a total of 3,568 cases with 127 deaths. The capital has been in lockdown since Jan. 1, but according to Reuters data, COVID-19 infections are decreasing, with 21 new infections reported on average each day.

Political tensions have been on the rise over the past week following the nomination of President Idriss Deby, who has been in power since 1990, to seek a sixth term in a presidential election on April 11. Violent protests flared in the capital on Saturday after the ruling party announced Deby's candidacy, and more protests are planned for the weekend, and on Monday when the summit is expected to start.

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