European interest in Africa generally grew during the nineteenth century. By France, motivated by the search for wealth, had driven inland from its settlements on central Africa's west coast to claim the territory of Ubangi-Chari present-day Central African Republic. It claimed this area as a zone of French influence, and within two years it occupied part of what is now southern Chad.
In the early s, French military expeditions sent to Chad encountered the forces of Rabih Fadlallah, who had been conducting slave raids razzias in southern Chad throughout the s and had sacked the settlements of Kanem-Borno, Bagirmi, and Wadai.
Two fundamental themes dominated Chad's colonial experience with the French: an absence of policies designed to unify the territory and an exceptionally slow pace of modernization. In the French scale of priorities, the colony of Chad ranked near the bottom; it was less important than non-African territories, North Africa, West Africa, or even the other French possessions in Central Africa. The French came to perceive Chad primarily as a source of raw cotton and untrained labor to be used in the more productive colonies to the south.
Within Chad there was neither the will nor the resources to do much more than maintain a semblance of law and order. In fact, even this basic function of governance was often neglected; throughout the colonial period, large areas of Chad were never governed effectively from N'Djamena called FortLamy prior to September But Chad did not receive separate colony status or a unified administrative policy until The four colonies were administered together as French Equatorial Africa under the direction of a governor general stationed in Brazzaville.
The governor general had broad administrative control over the federation, including external and internal security, economic and financial affairs, and all communications with the French minister of the colonies.
Lieutenant governors, also appointed by the French government, were expected to implement in each colony the orders of the governor general. This is a history which still creates tensions between the north and the south of Chad today.
Warriors of Rabah Zubair Fadlallah. Rabah Zubair Fadlallah CE was born a slave, but gained his freedom and fame when he served in the army of Zubair Rahama Mansur al-Abbasi in south-east Ouaddai [l]. Rabah later became a warlord and a a slave trader himself, and ruler of most of northern Chad [li]. He would go on to conquer Ouaddai in the s, burn Massenya and conquer Baguirmi in , and had taken complete control of Borno by [lii].
After this he took the title Emir of the faithful, and established the capital city of Dikwa, south of Lake Chad [liii].
During the period between and the Rabah Fadlallah took control of most of the northern part of the area now known as Chad. Particularly noble sons were taken into the Rabih army as hostages to secure the loyalty of local chiefs.
It was at this time, during the conquest of Rabah, that the French began to send expeditionary forces to bring the area into its colonial Empire [liv]. Rabah would often harass these expeditionary forces, and sometimes came into direct combat with them. In Rabah won a battle against the French and killed Lieutenant Bretonnet and most of his men [lvi]. This defeat made the French increase their efforts into conquering Chad, and sent out three columns to converge on Lake Chad [lvii].
The story goes on and states that the French decapitated Rabah and dispalyed his head for all to see [lviii]. Rabah Fadlallah is seen as an African hero by many because of his staunch opposition to the French conquest. Some also seem him as a pan-Africanist, as he was in a process of uniting the various Kingdoms and political entities which ruled at the time [lix]. The colonial conquest of Chad by the French Empire was a long and arduous endeavour. As mentioned above there was great fighting between the French and Rabah, which would only come to an end in In after much loss of lives the Kanem were subdued, and on June 13, the Ouaddai lost their capital city of Abeche [lx].
Several smaller political entities and Kingdoms were conquered during the next ten years, and lastly the Tubu people surrendered in [lxi]. The French set up their colonial administration in the city of N'djamena [lxii]. Chad was one of the most neglected of the French colonies. Almost no investment was made in infrastructure or economic development during the French occupation. Only after the conquest of the Tubu in did Chad get a civilian government [lxiv].
On November 11, , Tibesti changed hands from the colonial administration of Niger to that of Chad [lxv]. The forced recruitment of local recruitment of soldiers was a major issue in the Chad colony, and there were several incidents were towns physically fought colonial recruiters [lxvi]. One such incident ended in one recruiter being held hostage, while his guard was castrated [lxvii]. Another central form of exploitation in the Chad Colony was that of forced labour.
There were three types of forced labour. The Chad colony had three types of obligations for providing forced labour. The first was that any administrator could ask any African, at any time, to work for private companies or for the government. Thirdly the colonial authorities could extract work from prisoners [lxviii].
The lack of French civil administrators willing to work in Chad, made the colonial authorities greatly dependant on local leaders for the keeping order in the colony [lxix]. The recruiters would use tactics such as theft of food and livestock, kidnapping hostages, and the burning of houses and crops, to coerce people who refused to join the forced labour [lxxi]. The largest forced labour project was the railway from Point-Noire to Brazzaville.
An estimated 10 workers would die before the railway was finished [lxxiii]. The Chad Colony was a brutal place to live for the local people.
There was the obviously exploitative forced labour system, and on top of that, as a general rule, any European could order any African to become a porter at any time [lxxiv]. An estimated 30 people died from hunger between and alone [lxxvi]. Parts of the tax had to be paid in currency which forced Chadians into becoming workers in the colonial economy and violence and coercion was often used when the colonial administration collected the tax [lxxvii].
Chadians made many attempts at resisting tax collection, and the French authorities would reply with severe and violent retribution. The most violent incident in relation to tax collection was in Bouna in the south of Chad.
In the local chief who was in charge of collecting taxes in the area decided to charge double tax, and the Bouna people refused to pay [lxxviii]. The French troops proceeded to kill an estimated 5 adults, slaughtering the domestic animals, and burning most of the canton [lxxx]. It is said that only women and children were left alive [lxxxi]. The end of World War II would also mark the end of some of the harshest colonial policies.
Forced labour was abolished and political parties were legalised in [lxxxiv]. Although there would be two separate voting systems and a lack of universal suffrage until [lxxxv].
The two parties came to represent the regional divisions which existed in Chad as a French colony, UDT catered to the Muslim population, while PPT had its support base in the southern part of the country [lxxxvii]. While UDT and PPT were the two largest parties, the period between and was marked by a fight for power between a variety of different parties in Chad, all representing various religious, cultural and regional interests [lxxxviii].
In many ways the struggle between various parties at this time would be a foreshadowing of the various conflicts which would dominate Chad after independence. The PPT was the strongest party at the end of the colonial occupation, and would become the governing party after independence was declared.
On the March 31, , Chad held national elections and PPT won an overwhelming victory over the other parties [lxxxix]. A little more than a year later, on August 11, , Chad declared independence from France [xc]. Chad faced serious violence and trouble after independence. In the country saw the beginning of one Africa's longest civil wars. It lasted more than 24 years and ended only in the early s [xci].
It was not long after independence that one could see the signs of trouble. Francois Tombalbaye was Chad's first president, and soon after independence he centralised all decision making into the presidency, turning parliament into nothing but a rubber stamp [xcii].
In Tombalbaye had eliminated any official opposition parties, purged all enemies from the state, and turned Chad into a one-party state [xciii]. Tombalbaye then proceeded to make sure that all newly appointed civil servants had a background from the Sara people in the south [xciv]. This created tensions between the northern and the southern parts of the country. The northern marginalisation from state and the civil service fanned up under old conflicts dating back to before the colonial period [xcv].
This tension was further stoked when the President, in , ordered a new tax on cattle and personal income, which was followed by immediate violence against tax collectors in the northern provinces [xcvi]. Tubu people in the north rose up against the government and killed one Chadian soldier, which in turn caused the regime to retaliate [xcvii].
It decided that Senegal's courts do not have the jurisdiction to try Habre on torture charges during his eight years in power in Chad. MDJT hardliners reject deal. Chad accuses Sudan of being behind the incident. The move angers the World Bank, which suspends loans and orders the account used to collect oil revenues to be frozen. Hundreds of people are killed.
Chad cuts diplomatic ties with Sudan, accusing it of backing the rebels. The main opposition parties boycott the poll. Scandal as French charity tries to airlift a group of ''orphans'' to Europe in what Chad describes as a smuggling operation. Rebels are repulsed in fighting that leaves more than dead.
Six international aid groups, including the International Red Cross, suspend work in eastern Chad, citing risk of their staff being abducted or killed. Chad and Sudan agree to deploy joint force to monitor situation along their shared border. Experts meet to discuss how to protect Lake Chad, which has shrunk dramatically over past 50 years.
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