Central Chad revisited. The long-term impact of drought and war in the Guera ASC Research Seminar

Dr Mirjam de Bruijn is a senior researcher at the African Studies Centre and has had a long-term interest in poverty and socio-cultural change. Nakar Djindil is a researcher at the Laboratoire de Recherches Vétérinaires et Zootechniques de Farcha, N’Djaména, Chad. She specializes in nutrition and its social aspects. Han van Dijk is a senior researcher at the African Studies Centre, and does research on land use, land tenure and governance.

Hardly any research has been done in Central Chad since just after independence in 1965 when peasant unrest started. In the countryside power was gradually assumed by FROLINAT (FROnt pour la LIbération NAtionale du Tchad), while the government held the cities. Insecurity, violence and famine were the dominant features of the following 25 years. The population of the Guera found themselves caught between the rebel forces and the government, and had no access to aid during the Sahelian droughts of the 1970s and 1980s. Later on, under the dictatorship of Hissein Habré there were mass killings because of the supposed rebellious character of the region. The political situation has improved somewhat since hostilities temporarily ended in 1990 but Chad remains one of the most poverty-stricken countries in Africa with very little social or physical infrastructure. Research into the political and economic situation was limited in the past and had to be undertaken from the capital but in 2002 the ASC started a new research project in the Guera in Central Chad focusing on the long-term consequences of drought and war for the population.
In this seminar Mirjam de Bruijn will give an introduction to the recent history of the area, focusing on the plight of the population during this period. Nakar Djindil will present an overview of the first results of her research into the nutritional status of women and children and discuss ideas on how to develop this research. The consequences of drought and war for land use and natural resource management will be sketched by Han van Dijk.