CHAD: GEOGRAPHIC PERSPECTIVES ON A COUNTRY IN CONFLICT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP85T00283R000100100005-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 10
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 13, 2010
• Sequence Number: 5
• Publication Date: September 1, 1983
• Content Type: REPORT

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Directorate of
Intelligence
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A .'i II, M A tn. f t `~
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on a Country in Conflict
Secret
Chad: Geographic Perspectives
NGA Review Completed
Secret
G/ 83-102! 2
September 1983
Copy 4 3 5
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Directorate of
Intelligence
on a Country in Conflict
Chad: Geographic Perspectives
Irt1ormation available as of 18 August 1983
was used in this report.
Comments and queries are welcome and maybe
directed to the Chief, Geography Division, OGI, on
Near East Branch, Office of Glob
Western Hemisphere Branch, and
This paper was prepared by Africa-
Secret
GI 83-102/ 2
September 1983
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on a Country in Conflicts - ~ I I 25X1
The current war in Chad underscores bitter regional
and ethnic discords that have plagued that impover-
ished country since before its independence from
France. The pattern of outside intervention in Chad's
internal conflicts is also an old one. As in the past, the
military and insurgency activities now under way in
Chad are strongly affected by the harsh physical
environment, long distances between supply points,
lack of good roads, and great ethnic diversity. This
study briefly analyzes the key geographic factors that
make Chad subject to internal strife and vulnerable to
outside meddling; it also focuses on those aspects of
the environment that influence current military oper-
ations
The War in Brief
The latest round of fighting began in May 1983 when
Libyan-backed Chadian rebels, moving out of bases in
the Tibesti Mountains, managed in two months to
overrun the country as far south as Abeche. President
Habre launched a counteroffensive and regained con-
trol of the area up to the key oasis of Faya-Largeau in
late July. But, after a brief lull in operations caused
by heavy rains in the south and sandstorms in the
north, the rebels and Libyans recaptured Faya-
Largeau and Oum Chalouba. By mid-August, French
aircraft and substantial numbers of French troops
were being introduced on the government's side and
deployed to defend the south. N'Djamena is now
ringed with French antiaircraft missiles to deter
attacks by Libyan fighter-bombers. In addition to the
French, Zairian troops have also been sent to help the
Chadian Government. The rebel forces are supported
by thousands of Libyan Army regulars.
Ethnic Diversity
Deeply ingrained prejudices and antagonisms are at
the root of much of Chad's civil strife. The country
has been an area of convergence for peoples and
cultures for centuries. Chad's nearly 5 million inhab-
itants belong to 12 major ethnic groups and 240
subgroups-each with its own traditions and way of
life. These can be grouped into three broad catego-
ries-white Muslims, black Muslims, and non-Mus-
lim blacks.
The white Muslims represent about one-fifth of the
population and include Bedouin Arabs together with
the racially mixed Arabized Toubou and Fulani tribal
groups. Fiercely independent, these nomadic peoples
of the north hold the southern blacks and sedentary
people in general in contempt. They maintain a rigid
code of social stratification from privileged nobility to
outcast. Goukouni Weddeye, former President of
20th Century Chronology o.J'Chad
1900 France proclaims protectorate over Chad.
1908 Chad incorporated into French Equatorial Arica.
1920 Chad becomes separate French colony.
1946 Chad made one o/four constituent territories oI
French Equatorial A/Fica.
1959 Chad becomes an autonomous republic within the
French community.
1960 Chad achieves independence (north under French
military administration until 1964).
1965 Cort/licts begin between government and Muslim
dissidents.
1973 Libya occupies Chad's Aozou Strip, claiming the
territory as its own.
1979 Accord reached between warring factions in Chad;
Transitional Government gjNational Unity (CUNT)
formed.
1980 Civil war resumes; rebels under Habre defeated
following Libyan intervention.
1982 Habre's rebels oust GUNT,? new government estab-
lished with Habre as President.
1983 Libyan-backed rebels under Goukouni Weddeye
take northern Chad by mid-August. ~~
Chad and now a leader of the rebel forces, is a
nobleman of the Teda clan of the Toubou tribe; his
power base is in the Tibesti area. President Habre is
also a Toubou tribesman, but from the Daza clan.
Born in Faya-Largeau, the son of a shepherd of
unknown ancestry, he is a charismatic, highly intelli-
gent, Paris-educated leader. His strongest support is 25X1
drawn from the Toubou and related tribes, but he has
also gained the backing of many black Muslims in the
areas of Biltine, Abeche, and the Sudan border.)
Black Muslims, making up about one-fourth of the25X1
total population, are concentrated in the south-central
part of the country between Abeche and N'Djamena.
Some groups are nomadic, but most combine limited
livestock herding with farming and live in permanent
villages. Racially they range from Negroid through
varying degrees of mixed Negroid-Caucasoid. They 25X1
are much less rigid in their observance of the caste
system than their Arab counterparts.
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The blacks, who are Christians or animists, account
for more than half of the population. Known as
southerners, they are densely concentrated in south-
western Chad. Most are sedentary subsistence farm-
ers living in dispersed, self-contained villages. The
southerners consider themselves egalitarian and non-
competitive. The Sara, largest of the tribes, became
under French rule the best educated, most modern-
ized, and politically strongest tribal group in Chad.
Northern Muslim resentment at having been excluded
from the mainstream of the nation's political and
economic life is a major element in the animosity
between the two groups; southern fear of Muslim
domination is the other side of the coin. Blacks
remember the days of the slave trade, when raids
from the north decimated their population
Weak Economy and Poorly Developed Resources
Chad is one of the poorest countries in the world, with
a per capita annual income of slightly more than
$100. It is heavily dependent on outside aid. In
addition to chronic instability and depressed markets,
constraints to development in Chad include harsh
environmental conditions, an inadequate infrastruc-
ture, and a lack of human resources. Since 1966 there
have been 11 severe droughts, many affecting the
entire country. Even if productivity improved, Chad's
landlocked position and sparse transportation network
would retard development. The nearest port to N'Dja-
mena, the capital, is more than 1,000 kilometers
away, there are no railroads, and only a few of the
roads are paved. About 85 percent of the population is
illiterate, and there is a severe shortage of professional
and technical workers.
Civil strife has caused an already weak economy to
deteriorate. Export revenues fell from $106 million in
1977 to $55 million in 1982. The economy is based on
agriculture-which is concentrated in the south. Cot-
ton, the principal export commodity, earns 80 percent
of the revenues, while meat, livestock, and fish ac-
count for most of the rest. Industry is confined to food
processing, cotton, and textiles. ~~
Although the Aozou Strip along the Libyan border in
the north is sometimes described by the news media as
"mineral rich," little is actually known about the
country's natural resources. Security problems since
independence have precluded a thorough exploration
for minerals. Salt is mined around Lake Chad, and
uranium, gold, bauxite, chrome, and copper are
known to exist. Oil is found in places, but the
construction of a pipeline from the fields to N'Dja-
mena has been delayed because of the current war
Population and Ethnic Groups
Major Ethnic Groups
Percent
White Muslim 18
Bedouin Arab 13
Toubou 4
Fulani I
Black Muslim 25
Wadai Iz 25X1
Boulala 2
Baguirmi 1
Other 3
(Includes Hausa
and Kotoko)
25X1
25X1
POPULATION DENSITY
Persona per square kilometer
0 0.4 4 20
0 1 10 50
Persona per square mile
Based on f 964 census
Arabs Selected ethnic group25X1
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SELECTED
ROADS AIRFIELDS MINERAL DEPOSITS
Hard surface Improved earth ~ Major U Possible uranium
All-weather loose surface ---Track ~ Other O Oil ~
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Cross-Country Movement Conditions
Geographic and Logistic Factors
Affecting Military Operations
Chad's size (twice that of Texas), landlocked position,
distance from major military supply centers, paucity
of internal transportation facilities, and harsh physi-
cal environment pose difficult problems for military
operations-particularly those involving large forces
that must be sustained over long periods of time.
Some of these factors show considerable regional and
seasonal variation:
? Chad extends from the Sahara Desert in the north
to the humid tropics in the south; thus, although
temperatures are high throughout the country all
year, there are pronounced wet and dry seasons only
in the south.
? Large areas in both northern and southern Chad are
flat-to-rolling plains that are generally suitable for
off-road movement by vehicles. In the south, howev-
er, these areas become briefly impassable following
rains.
Temperature
F? (Mean daily)
Q Moderately dissected plains
Seasonally inundated plains
Q Mountains, hills, and severely
dissected plains
Sand dunes "-
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? Chad's great interior distances-1,770 kilometers
north to south and 1,050 kilometers east to west-
and poor roads make logistic support for large-scale
military. operations difficult; these factors would 25X1
become more important if government forces were
to move to the far north or if Libyan forces were to
advance into southern Chad. ~~ 25X1
The North. Conventional ground operations are prac-
tical, although frequently difficult, over the flat-to-
rolling plains that make up most of the northern two-
thirds of the country. Exceptions occur where vehicles
traveling cross-country must bypass rocky outcrops or
steep-sided wadis and where movement is slowed by
patches of loose sand. Off-road movement, even by
foot troops, is virtually impossible in the rocky Tibesti
uplands near the Libyan border, where the higher
mountains reach elevations over 3,000 meters, and
farther south where a broad belt of sand dunes
stretches across the country northeastward from Lake
Chad~~ 25X1
From September through May the desert area north
of the latitude of Abeche is scorched by hot, dry winds
from the north or east. Extreme daytime temperatures
occasionally reach 50? C (120? F). Skies are usually
cloudless, but visibility may be severely reduced for
two to five days by dust-laden, winds (harmattan),
which are most prevalent from November through
March. Local duststorms and sandstorms covering
much smaller areas also occur. From June through
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August this area receives moister winds from the
southwest that bring more clouds and slight and
irregular rainfall
Throughout northern Chad, water for military opera-
tions is scarce; wadis flow and temporary lakes form
for only short periods in July and August. The far
north may go for as long as two years at a time with
no surface water available, although some water is
provided by wells in oases. Most of northern Chad
lacks vegetation except for scattered areas of desert
shrubs and occasional tufts of grass. Exceptions are
widely spaced oases, which contain date palms, and
wadis, lined with dwarf trees and shrubs; but even
these areas could offer concealment for only small
groups.
The South. Cross-country vehicular movement is usu-
ally feasible on the plains of southern Chad. Some
places are briefly impassable after heavy rains, and
others-along major streams, for example-may be
seasonally inundated and impassable for longer peri-
ods. In the hilly uplands (elevations mostly between
600 and 1,500 meters)-north and south of Abeche, off-
road vehicular movement is precluded in many areas
by steep slopes and rocky outcrops.
In southern Chad the dry season-November through
April-is shorter, cloudier, and rainer than in the
north. Haze associated with airflow from the north or
east causes visibility problems similar to those in the
north, and smoke from brush fires adds to poor
visibility in March and April. During the wet season,
moist southerly winds bring heavy rainfall, particular-
ly from July through September. Widespread cloudi-
ness moderates daily high temperatures. Ground visi-
bility is good except during showers.
The plains of southern Chad are crossed by the
perennial Chari and Logone Rivers and several of
their tributaries, and water supplies for military oper-
ations are much larger than in the north. Seasonal
flooding that would halt most military operations
occurs along and between the streams from early May
through November; during the low-water period from
early December through April, small tributaries may
become a series of pools. The size of shallow Lake
Chad (about 1 to 4 meters deep) varies considerably;
during the dry season, large marginal areas become
exposed mud flats, stagnant pools, or marshes, partic-
ularly along the lower stretches of the major feeder
streams. Scrubby woods and grasslands covering
roughly the southern third of Chad afford good
concealment where the vegetation is tall and dense
Roads
Chad's road network is sparse, unevenly distributed,
and would not support sustained heavy military traf-
fic. Most improved roads link towns in the south or
radiate from the capital. Only about 250 kilometers of
roads leading to N'Djamena are hard surfaced. Even
these are of poor quality, however, and have deterio-
rated in places from lack of maintenance. About
1,000 kilometers of roads are all-weather loose sur-
face (gravel and laterite), and another 600 kilometers
have had some grading. Bridges are rare. In the
wetter south, normal vehicular travel almost ceases
during the height of the rainy season from July to
October. Land connections to the north and to other
remote areas are along unimproved dirt tracks that
are easily passable only for all-wheel-drive vehicles,
camel caravans, and other draft animals.
Airfields
Chad's principal airfield, at N'Djamena, with a
2,800-meter concrete. runway, serves a's a main inter-
national facility for central Africa. A second large,
hard-surfaced airfield has been constructed by Libya
near the border in the Aozou Strip. At least two other
airfields (Sarh and Moundou) have macadam or later-
ite surfaces that can support medium-transport opera-
tions. The numerous smaller airfields have mainly
graded earth surfaces; many are suitable only for
occasional light aircraft and are temporarily unusable
after rains.) 25X1
)Effects of Geographic Conditions
on Current NYilitary Operations
The fighting between the Libyan-backed dissidents
and Habre's forces has so far been in the northern
desert area, where there are relatively few restrictions
on vehicular movement along existing tracks or on air
operations. The desert tracks, including those leading
south from Al Kufra and Sabah in Libya to Faya-
Largeau, are generally passable for heavy, wheeled
transporters carrying armored vehicles and supplies.
Transportation disruptions, however, are frequent:
A~mechanized Libyan unit following a track
through a sandy area north of Faya-Largeau in
mid-August was seriously slowed by the difficult
terrain,
Farther south, following rains, government forces
have had to cope with miry spots and water-filled
wadis on tracks radiating from N'Djamena and
Abeche.
Air resupply to both government and Libyan-
supported forces as well as Libyan air attacks have
been impeded for brief periods by haze and dust-
storms.
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Faya-Largeau, population less than 10,000, is
the largest oasis in northern Chad. Palm trees,
laced with a network 4/'dirt streets, shade most
4/'the urban area and extend beyond the town to
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