Lettres de Byblos Letters from Byblos No. 10 HELGA DICKOW In collaboration with Petra Bauerle Democrats without Democracy? Attitudes and opinions on society, religion and politics in Chad Centre International des Sciences de l'Homme International Centre for Human Sciences Byblos 2005 Lettres de Byblos Letters from Byblos No. 10 HELGA DICKOW In collaboration with Petra Bauerle Translated by John Richardson Democrats without Democracy? Attitudes and opinions on society, reli gion and politics in Chad Centre International des Sciences de l'Homme International Centre for Human Sciences Byblos 2005 Lettres de Byblos / Letters from Byblos A series of occasional papers published by UNESCOCentre International des Sciences de l’Homme International Centre for Human Sciences (Arabic) The opinions expressed in this monograph are those of the author and should not be construed as representing those of the International Centre for Human Sciences. All rights reserved. Printed in Lebanon. No part of this publication may be re- produced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechani- cal, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. C International Centre for Human Sciences, 2005 Published in 2005 in Lebanon by the International Centre for Human Sciences, B.P. 225 Byblos (Jbeil), Liban. ISBN 9953-0-0575-3 In memory of my father, Heinz Dickow (1913–2004) Acknowledgements This study on Chad was undertaken at the suggestion of Professor Theodor Hanf, director of the Arnold Bergstraesser Institute, Freiburg, Germany, and the Centre International des Science de l'Homme, Byblos, Lebanon. I take this opportunity to ex- press my deep gratitude for his support. The survey was funded by UNESCO. The questionnaire was constructed by Professor Hanf and survey was conducted by the Laboratoire de Recherches Vétérinaires et Zootechniques de Farcha, N'djamena, Chad. Dr Martin Wiese and Nakar Djindil accompanied the study with advice and support from start to finish; their knowledge of Chadian structures and institutions made the study possible in the first place. To them, my colleagues in Chad who supervised the field work and the coordinator I am particularly grateful. This report is the result of their tenacity and their determination, notwithstanding the difficult political and climatic conditions, to see the first survey of political opinions in Chad through to its conclusion. Their enthusiasm was contagious: perhaps the most extreme example of this was the driver who, after an accident, insisted on "guarding" the completed questionnaires – "nos questionnaires", as he called them – for days, even though he had no drinking water. I also wish to thank Allahta, Beral, Lotfi and other friends for their advice, logistical support and instruction in the politics of Chad and the structures and networks of kin- ship relationships. I am indebted to my many Chadian interlocutors for their willingness – despite the very real danger involved on occasion – to grant me an insight into their lives and political convictions, impressions, thoughts, fears and hopes. Petra Bauerle painstakingly evaluated the questionnaires in Freiburg. I thank her for the enjoyable and reliable collaboration. I also thank John Richardson for the trans- lation and Angela Herrmann for the layout. Contents Acknowledgements Forty-four years of struggle for power and unity Remarks on Chad's history and political system 7 French colony and independence 9 Short-lived democracy and civil wars 11 The democratic face of monocracy 14 From the second elections to constitutional reform 18 Power as seen by those who do not have it Perceptions of political and civil society elites outside the inner circle 22 Chad – a democracy? 22 The impotence of the opposition 26 Dependent loyalty 29 Elections and referendums 31 The "Déby System“ 33 Chances of changing the system? 34 Views of the political order after a change of power 37 The responsibility of the outside world 40 Perceptions of conflict 41 Fear 45 Too soon for democracy? 46 Summary 47 Unsharp social cleavages Chadian attitudes and opinions on society, religion and politics 49 A survey in four cities: N'djamena, Sarh, Abeche and Mongo 49 Chadian society as reflected in the sample 51 Fear of the future, trust, caution and powerlessness: psychosocial attitudes 59 Social and economic perceptions 64 Religion, ethnicity and identity 75 Political orientations 87 Opinions on the political order 107 Perceptions of differences and coexistence 119 Life in the future 128 Conclusion 131 Bibliography 132 Democrats without Democracy? Attitudes and opinions on society, religion and politics in Chad HELGA DICKOW In collaboration with Petra Bauerle Forty-four years of struggle for power and unity Remarks on Chad's history and political system Chad is one of the poorest countries in the world:1 80% of its population lives below the poverty line. Since independence, it has known virtually only authoritarian govern- ment and civil war. Apart from the occasional negative headline, such as the three- year captivity of Françoise Claustre, a French archaeologist held in the Tibesti Mountains in the mid-1970s, the world paid little attention to Chad. Until October 2003, that is, when it started producing oil and – almost simultaneously – found itself hosting thousands of refugees fleeing genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan. 1 According to the UNDP's Human Development Index, Chad ranks 167th out of 177 countries. In such circumstances, what do people think about democracy and peaceful co- existence between religious and ethnic groups? Is there a Chadian identity?2 What kind of government do Chadians want and how do they view their future and that of their country? A representative survey conducted in the cities of N'djamena, Abeche, Sarh und Mongo at the end of 2004 in collaboration with the Laboratoire de Recherches Vétérinaires et Zootechniques in N'djamena seeks to provide answers to these questions. In addition, leading politicians of the opposition and representatives of civil society were interviewed about the situation in Chad. Moslems make up a good half of the population, Christians somewhat more than a third, and practitioners of traditional and other religions account for about seven per- cent each. The overwhelming majority of the inhabitants in the north and east are largely influenced by Arab Muslim culture and those in the south are predominantly African and Christian. More than 200 ethnic and linguistic groups live together in this country – of between eight and nine million people.3 The largest ethnic groups (with their various subgroups) are the Sara, Moundang and Massa in the south and the Arabs, Goran, Kanem-Borno and Ouaddai in the north.4 Tensions between the different regions pre-dated the colonial period. The king- doms and sultanates in the north and northeast of present-day Chad were centres of trade – including slavery – between Central Africa and Europe on the one hand and the Islamic centres of the Orient on the other. They hunted their human wares primarily in the south and southeast of the modern state.5 This has not been forgotten. Though memories of pre-colonial history persist, their influence is not as strong as that of the short period of French colonialisation. 2 "Jamais jusqu'ici l'Etat unitaire n'a réussi, et ne réussira, à forger rapidement la nation." Gali Ngothé Gatta, Chad. Guerre civile et désagrégation de l'Etat, Paris: Présence Africaine, 1985, p. 205. 3 The last official census was held in 1993; all subsequent population figures are projections. Cf. Gouvernement du Tchad, Recensement général de la population et l'habitat, N'djamena, Bureau central de recensement (BCR) 1993. 4 Cf. CIA, The World Factbook, Chad, http://www.cia/publications/factbook, 17 March 2005. For detailed accounts of the different ethnic and religious groups and their everyday life, see Jean Chapelle, Le peuple Tchadien. Ses racines et sa vie quotidienne et ses combats, Paris: L'Harmattan, 1986, and Albert Le Rouvreur, Sahéliens et Sahariens du Tchad, Paris: L'Har- mattan, 1989. 5 On the conflict between south and north, see Centre Culturel Al-Mouna (ed.), "Conflit Nord- Sud". Mythe ou réalité, (N'djamena): Sépia, 1996. 8 Democrats without Democracy? French colony and independence Chad was added to French Equatorial Africa only in 1910, became part of the French Overseas Territories in 1946, an autonomous republic in the French Community in 1958 and was granted independence in 1960. The colonial administration was inter- ested mainly in the south, the part of Chad they called "productive Chad" – in contrast to the north, "cattle-breeding Chad" or "nomadic Chad". The south was not only fertile – in the 1920s the colonial administration started cultivating cotton for export6 – but the colony was also a reservoir of forced labour: workers to build the Central African rail- way lines and fight as soldiers in World War II. Infrastructure and the school system were concentrated in the south,7 and most of the local recruits for the colonial administration came from there, too. Missionary activity started in Chad later than in most French colonies. This is partly due to the secular and openly anticlerical attitudes of many colonial officials, but also to fears that missionaries could influence people in favour of other European states.8 Eventually the churches gained a foothold in Chad, although a number of more or less covert animist traditions survive. The Protestant churches were active in the south and west of the country from the 1920s; the Catholic missionary orders started working primarily in the centre and east in the 1930s. Health care and schooling went hand in hand with the missions.9 The Muslim inhabitants of the north, many of whom were nomads, not only resisted all efforts to missionise them, but also to impose the French educational system. Although the first French school was opened in Mao, in Kanem, 6 Cf.