It was initially reported that Kamougué was one of the opposition leaders arrested during a battle between government forces and rebels in N'Djamena in early February 2008. On February 16, 2008, Minister of Communications Hourmadji Moussa Doumgor denied this, saying that Kamougué had not been arrested and that he was "hiding in the country's interior". It later emerged that Kamougué had escaped arrest. In a statement on February 26, he and another opposition leader, Saleh Kebzabo, released a statement calling for "the immediate convening of an all-inclusive national dialogue", the release of the three opposition leaders who had been arrested and an international inquiry into the arrests, and an immediate cease-fire. Kamougué returned to N'Djamena from Cameroon on March 22, having received guarantees of safety from the authorities.