If you close your eyes and imagine the African continent, the Republic of Chad, which is in the middle, is a country that is as important to us as the sesame in our bagels. This country from which we buy sesame actually constitutes an important example in terms of the colonial history of the African continent.
The news that the President of Chad Idriss Débyitno was killed by the separatist guerrillas on the battlefield, which appeared on the news bulletins on Monday, April 19, did not attract much attention in the world public opinion. President Débyİtno, who visited our country in 2019, said that he attaches importance to the development of bilateral - mostly commercial - relations. Thousands of Chad, as well as some African leaders such as the President of Guinea, Alpha Conde, attended the official funeral ceremony held in Ulus Square in the capital Ndjamena on Friday. But the French President Emmanuel Macron's participation did not go unnoticed either. Because even Macron continued to act as the owner of the country and said that the necessary support would be provided for the continuation of the stability in the country was an indication that the colonialism was still not over. Chad, which was besieged by French colonialism at the beginning of the twentieth century, was completely under the control of France in 1920. It can be said that France did not attach much importance to Chad since it did not have rich underground and aboveground resources from the very beginning. Perhaps some of the citizens were taken to France as an unskilled labor force in the slave trade, and the rest were used in cotton agriculture initiated by France. While the raw material needs, which is one of the natural consequences of the Western colonialist view in the industrial revolution, were transported from outside Europe, local people were subjected to all kinds of oppression in this process.
Chad consists of more than 20 ethnic groups, and most of its people are Muslim, and French is spoken "quite naturally and normally", with Arabic called Chad Arabic as the language. Colonialism aims to keep a country and its people in this status for centuries, not only as a country that provides raw materials temporarily. It is aimed to establish an order that will provide cotton for free in the future, rather than a commercial relationship that will meet the cotton need today and benefit both sides. Maintaining this status quo is actually a scientific discipline in itself. First of all, this order should be perceived and adopted as "normal". Education is probably the top priority in this direction. It is very important to arouse sympathy for France, to impose culture by speaking its language fluently and, of course, to raise the political atmosphere and political actors as supporters of France. Chad, which is one of the poorest and most corrupt countries in the world, could not avoid being dependent on its colonizer within this system. After the Second World War, France granted the country the status of "overseas territory" and thus the people of Chad gained the right to vote both in the French Assemblée Nationale (National Assembly) elections and in the elections to be held for their own parliament (!) It gained independence on 11 August 1960 under the leadership of François Tombalbaye, a party established in the south of the country (Parti Progressiste Tchadien).
Being a neighbor to Libya in the north and the majority of the people living in this region being Muslim, Tombalbaye, who was a Christian and who received more support from them in the south, banned other political parties in the country after independence and created an authoritarian regime. Ethnic conflicts obviously come to the advantage of the colonialists. As a matter of fact, Muslims also fought to have a say in the administration by establishing their own parties (Chad de libération nationale du Tchad, FRONILAT, 1965) and despite the murder of Tombalbaye in 1975, the conflicts between the parties continued. But four years later, when opposition groups led by Hissène Habré took over the capital, there was relatively little peace. Having received the arms and economic support of France and the United States, Habré was elected president in 1982 and remained in this post until he was overthrown in 1990 by a general appointed by him, Déby Itno. In fact, it is necessary to express that Libya also wants to take advantage of this power vacuum in its southern neighbor, since it is relatively independent from France during the civil war in the country.
Déby Itno, who has led the country for more than 30 years, actually has a history similar to other political leaders on the continent. As the son of a poor shepherd, he chose military service, which is the most guaranteed way to rise in the country, and when he successfully reached the top ranks, he took power with a military coup. Even today, until the elections to be held after his death, his 37-year-old son - again a four-star general - Mahamet Idriss Déby will be in charge as the head of the Military Transition Council (CMT). It can be said that the only positive thing that can be said for the Idriss Déby administration, which is not very bright in terms of human rights and democracy in general, is that it saved the country from a dictator. But the fact that Libya, which intervened in the internal affairs of the country years ago, still supports the rebel FACT (Front for Change and Harmony in Chad), and even the fight of these militants against the legitimate government in the Libyan civil war is a result of instability. The fact that the other neighboring Sudan also supports similar guerrilla groups and even their use in the Darfur war reveals the situation that is open to any intervention in the country. As a matter of fact, President Idriss Déby Itno also lost his life in a clash with FACT guerrillas on the Libyan border in the north. Although greedy colonialism may seem superficially over, it continues to gain benefits by clashing different ethnic groups with each other. On the other hand, Owner Macron brazenly continues to show who has the real power governing the country, under the pretext of separating the children who fight.