Chad is a multi-party democracy located in Central Africa. In 2015, the country was governed by President Idriss Déby, who had been in power since 1990 and is the leader of the Patriotic Salvation Movement (MPS) party. During his time in office, President Déby has been credited with providing stability to Chad after years of civil unrest. See ehealthfacts for Chad in the year of 2005.
In 2015, Chad held presidential elections in which President Déby won a majority of votes and was re-elected for a sixth term. This victory was attributed to his successful economic policies such as reducing poverty levels, encouraging foreign investment, and providing basic services such as healthcare and education to its citizens. The MPS party also benefited from its strong national security policies which have helped to maintain peace and stability throughout Chad.
Despite its successes, President Déby’s government has been criticized for its lack of commitment to human rights such as freedom of speech and assembly. Additionally, corruption remains a major issue in Chad with high-level officials frequently accused of abusing their power for personal gain. Despite these challenges, President Déby’s government remains committed to furthering economic development and maintaining political stability throughout the country.
Yearbook 2015
Chad. According to COUNTRYAAH, N’Djamena is the capital of Chad which is located in Central Africa. The country was hit during the year by extremist group Boko Haram, who from Nigeria widened its terror to the region around Lake Chad. Chad, one of Africa’s most experienced military forces, joined neighboring countries in a joint military force against the jihadist group.
- Also see AbbreviationFinder.org for Chad country abbreviations, including geography, history, economy and politics.
Tanks and soldiers were sent to Cameroon, and fierce fighting was fought at the border with Nigeria. In February, the first fatal attack on Chadian land came from Boko Haram. Several people were killed when their village was attacked from the water. In March, new attacks came, and then Chadian soldiers were also sent to Nigeria.
In June, suicide bombers struck in N’Djamena against the police headquarters and the police academy. At least 38 people were killed and over 100 people injured in the attacks. The government blamed Boko Haram, and the Air Force attacked the group’s bases in Nigeria. In July, a new suicide attack was committed in N’Djamena, where 14 people were killed and about 80 injured in a marketplace.
At the beginning of the year, the government had abolished the death penalty, but after the rising terror it was reintroduced in an anti-terror law in July. Prison sentences were also sharpened, as was the possibility of detaining suspects.
In July, the Chadian military made two weeks’ raids against Boko Haram warriors who attacked the islands of Lake Chad. According to the army, nearly 120 terrorists and two soldiers were killed in the fighting.
In August, ten people were indicted for the terrorist attacks in June. One of them, a Nigerian described as one of Boko Haram’s leaders, was considered to be the brain behind the death. After a swift trial, all ten were sentenced to death and executed by arch-busting.
In October, at least 41 people were killed and about 50 injured when three bombs were fired in a city near Lake Chad. A bomb exploded in a fish market and two in a refugee camp.
In November, two military bases were attacked by Lake Chad, and according to the military, eleven attackers were killed. The government announced a state of emergency in the area and police and military were given increased powers. The equivalent of approximately SEK 40 million was promised for social and economic development to prevent recruitment to extremists.
The Food Policy Research Institute’s assessment of starvation in the world found that after the Central African Republic, Chad was the country most severely affected by hunger.
During the year, ten employees of former dictator Hissène Habré were sentenced to prison for abuse committed during the dictatorship. The trial of Habré himself also began during the year in Senegal, where he moved. He is made responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of people in the 1980s.
CINEMATOGRAPHY
The cinema of Chad is very young, given that the country, a French colony since 1897, only gained independence in 1960; it was also hampered by difficult economic and political conditions. The aridity of the climate, the scarcity of natural resources and geographical isolation prevented the economic take-off of Chad, which still lives on agriculture and has one of the lowest average income in Africa. The tensions between the populations of the South (black and animist) and those of the North (Arabs and Muslims), aggravated by the expansionism of Libya, have then made dramatic political life, in a succession of authoritarian governments, with frequent episodes of guerrilla and coups d’etat; it was only in 1991 that a precarious process of democratization and a return to civil peace began.
In the sixties there were some sporadic attempts at cinematographic activity, implemented above all by Edouard Sailly with short documentaries (on fishing, slaughterhouses, Lake Chad) and with a short film on the subject, Le troisième jour (1967), on the state of soul of a fisherman just struck by mourning. Almost thirty years later, the improvement in the political situation made it possible for a new generation of filmmakers to emerge. Mahamat Saleh Haroun (in France since 1982), was initially the author of short films, including Maral Tanie (1994), a melodrama about the consequences of a forced marriage, which leads to a Western-style showdown, and the comic sketches B 400 ( 1997) and Un thé au Sahel (1998, shot on video); in 1999 he shot on video the first feature film by Chad, Bye bye Africa, original work in which the director combines documentary and fiction, mixing personal and family memories with national history and the portrait of the capital N’Djamena, with its old popular cinemas, now closed and in ruins. Issa Serge Coelo, after Un taxi pour Aouzou (1994), on the life of a taxi driver in N’Djamena (awarded a César for best short film on a subject), has signed Daresalam (owner Dār al-salām, 2000, La casa della pace), second feature film by Chad (and the first made on film), in which the story of a friendship is intertwined with speeches on the political struggle and civil war. Zara Mahamat Yacoub, with documentaries Dilemme au féminin (1994), on excision of the clitoris, and Les enfants de la guerre (1995-96), established herself as Chad’s first video author.