A pastoralist’s rendevouz in N’djamena, Chad

When the World Bank scheduled an international meeting in N’djamena, to look at Trade Policies in the Livestock sector in West and Central Africa, it was a prayer answered for me. I attended on behalf of Traditional Livestock Breeders in West Africa. We were to look at the potentials and challenges in the Eastern Livestock […]

When the World Bank scheduled an international meeting in N’djamena, to look at Trade Policies in the Livestock sector in West and Central Africa, it was a prayer answered for me. I attended on behalf of Traditional Livestock Breeders in West Africa. We were to look at the potentials and challenges in the Eastern Livestock Trade Corridor, which included Chad, Central Africa Republic, Cameroon, Nigeria and Niger. It was an opportunity for me to see Chad at close range, even if for only one week. I also wanted to interact with our distant cousins who occupy the vast plains of the Sahel and Savannah, herding livestock or trading.
Prior to my departure, Chad was hot news in Nigeria. President Goodluck Jonathan had paid two state visits to Chad this year, trying to find solutions to the Boko Haram insurgency. A plane allegedly carrying weapons for Chad was impounded (and later released) in Kano. An “ally” of President Deby was allegedly arrested somewhere in Cameroon with rocket launchers destined for Boko Haram. The kidnapped Chibok girls were allegedly held in safe houses in Chad. The #BringBackOurGirls movement had also staged a demonstration to the Chadian embassy in Abuja.  So as a Nigerian going to Chad in the heat of the moment, I was a little apprehensive.  
Departing Nigeria was cumbersome. There are stern soldiers and mobile policemen clutching assault rifles within the vicinity of the airport. There are numerous forms and checking points within the departure area put by Ebola teams, Customs, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Department of State Security (DSS), Nigeria Immigration Service and the Federal Aviation Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), and then there are the irritating body taps. This was all to say Nigeria is at war with terror. I crossed all the points without any temperature rise.
The delegation from Nigeria to the meeting was made up of five, four persons from two federal ministries and me, from the livestock organisations. I was sponsored by the World Bank. I and one of the delegates were lucky to get the Abuja to Ndjamena flight directly. The others had to fly to Addis Ababa from Abuja, before connecting N’djamena.
The flight was to last one and a half hours. We landed at Hassane Ndjamouse International Airport N’djamena, within the stipulated time. We took the airport bus to the arrival lounge, and began our entry checks with the Frontier Police. In most Francophone countries, Immigration officers – as we know them in Nigeria – are a department of the National Police. Our travel documents were checked and stamped, and our finger prints and photos taken.
As I made to step out of the arrival hall, I was pulled aside by a man in a long white robe and a turban. I thought he was a currency dealer. He wasn’t. He blew a flurry of French, that I didn’t quite comprehend, but got the words “Police Nationale”. I guessed he was part of the Chadian internal police that I had heard much about. I followed. He took my passport and cross-checked my name against a list of names he had.  With a thousand and one Mohammed Bellos, I prayed there won’t be any case of mistaken identity. After about five minutes he handed me back my passport, and said to me “Bienvenue Chad”, (Welcome to Chad). “Merci” (Thank you), I replied.
The driver who picked us up from the airport spoke fluent Hausa. His name was Oumar. He told me his grandparents were from Nigeria. The hotel was not so comfortable, but I had no problems with it as prior to the Chad trip, I was in Niger Republic, where we slept in thatched huts at a pastoralist’s Fulani festival. So this was good enough.
The next day, while at breakfast, the Hotel manager called me and mentioned that a police officer wanted to speak to me. My heart sank. A police officer looking for you in a Francophone country is not a joking matter. I activated my legal antennas thinking of my rights under international law. I went to meet the officer. He was in plain clothes. He will speak in French and the manager will translate to Fulani for me. He came to crosscheck our documents and our documentation in the hotel. “No problem,” I said. He finished his checks. He had a look  and everything was ok. He then switched over to Hausa. “How is Nigeria?” “Fine”, I replied. He told me they crosscheck on visitors because of security concerns. “Isn’t it good” he asked me? “Excellent”, I said. Before he left, he cautioned me, “We don’t want people taking pictures all about in this town”.  No problem. “Did he know I had a flair for taking photos,” I wondered.   
The meeting began on the second day. Chad has the third livestock population in the Sahel, after Niger and Mali. The Chadian Ministry of Livestock indicates that more than 65% of their livestock exports go to Nigeria. They export cattle and sheep all round the year, especially during religious festivals. The remaining 35% goes to Cameroon, Congo Brazzaville, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.
The Boko Haram insurgency continues to pose a great economic challenge to Chad, a landlocked African country. They are extremely vigilant to make sure it does not pose a security challenge as well. Chadian herders and merchants told me they have lost more than 10,000 heads of cattle to the insurgency in Nigeria. Many herders and livestock merchants had been killed, their cattle rustled and their monies seized or stolen. Due to the insurgency, livestock export to Nigeria is now down by 70%. The Nigerian livestock market and matters relating to insecurity dominated the discussions at the meeting.  
Transhumance pastoralists who use to come to Nigeria for dry season grazing cannot do so now, because of insecurity. Thus, livestock have died due to lack of pasture and water in the dry season. Goods and services that flow to Chad through Cameroon, now come in trickles, and the cost of items has skyrocketed. Border closures and military operations hamper the movement of goods and persons. The crises in Central African Republic (CAR) has also adversely affected Chad and its herders and merchants. They have lost many livestock and herders there too. The Boko Haram insurgency I realised was causing our neighbours a great anxiety, economic hardship, material and human lives losses as well.  
On the third day of the conference, we were informed that we had to go and register with the National Police as first time visitors. There was a form to be filled. It contains columns for name, father’s name, mother’s name, wife’s name, number of children, religion and sect; where you live, occupation, mission to Chad, and number of days to spend. We must submit two recent passport photographs and photocopy of our international passport. It is the most detailed dossier I had ever filled. I truly knew that I was in a country where security was paramount.
Chad has no land borders with Nigeria except on the islets of the Lake Chad. The land border is through Niger Republic or through Cameroon. The land border with Cameroon linking Nigeria is normally closed to vehicular movement at 6.00pm. There is no curfew in Ndjamena, but I saw intense police patrols. Whenever you are going out, you are advised to carry your international passport.
Chad has had a chequered history of rebellions and counter-rebellions. President Deby (a former rebel) overthrew Hissene Habre. Habre, a rebel too, also overthrew Goukouni Oueddei, who (rebel also) overthrew Malloum. Deby himself was subject of a rebel attempt to overthrow him, but was saved due to an intervention by French forces in 2008. In December, this year another rebel, Abdul Kader Baba Ladde, who wanted to overthrow Deby, was arrested by the United Nations Forces in the Central African Republic.
Apart from the internal turmoil, Chad is hedged by Boko Haram insurgents to the south west in Nigeria, to the north Libya is in chaos. To the east, Deby is not in good terms with Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir, and Darfur is at war. To the north-east of Chad, the Central African Republic is in a state of anarchy. In the far north-west, the Al-Qaida in the Magrib (AQIM) is active in the Sahara desert, in a ring stretching from Mauretania, Mali, Algeria and Niger Republic. Against this background, one can understand why President Deby is worried that these forces might coalesce with his internal opponents and destabilise Chad, ,which is just settling down to enjoy its oil money.
Chinese and French construction works are evident, and so are the banking and energy sectors. I saw two branches of a Nigerian bank in N’djamena.
Chad asserts itself as a democracy. There are many billboards of President Deby in N’djamena. I did not see the posters or billboards of other political parties or political opponents. Unlike many other democracies, Chad has no term limits for the president, as approved by a referendum in 2005. In 2006, Deby added “Itno”, an ethnic Zaghawa name to his official names.  So he is officially known as HE Idris Deby Itno. He is a trained fighter pilot like former Ghanaian President Jerry Rawlings. My interaction at the markets and other places indicate that opposition is hushed.    
Back to the conference on livestock trade. The conclusion is that West and Central African countries need to harness their livestock, and encourage trade to attain food security, economic prosperity, development, political stability and combat terrorism. As it is, trade is characterised by bureaucratic bottlenecks and security threats to breeders, merchants and the states.
On pastoralism and insecurity, the meeting observed that “insecurity which has developed in recent years in Sahel-Saharan areas, exacerbated by trafficking and terrorism, highlights the importance of pastoral stock farming in making the most of these huge spaces, which are unfit for arable farming. Pastoralism ensures that the territories concerned are occupied and developed to avoid the emergence of vast ‘no man’s lands’ conducive to illicit activities representing danger to states and societies. A detailed knowledge of the areas and the know-how of herders is the best defense against potential misappropriation of these areas….”
We made a lot of Chadian friends who treated us in the traditional African fashion of honouring guests. They made us feel at home, and wanted to know the situation in Nigeria. Almost all of them had good wishes for Nigeria and prayed that the situation will normalise. Chad is linked to Nigeria through its people, trade, transhumance pastoralists, migrant farmers, migrant fishermen on the Lake Chad and the economy.
On the last day we took the circuitous flight from N’djamena to Douala in Cameroon, then to Lome, in Togo before connecting Abuja. I hope to go back to Chad to know it better. I came away with two things: Chad has an efficient, if not an over-effective policing system, and the irony is that though Chad is a major livestock exporting nation, it is an importer of corned beef from Europe.   
Mohammed Bello Tukur Esq. is a lawyer and the acting Secretary General of the Confederation of Traditional Herders Organizations in Africa (CORET).