02-07 Chad

It’s amazing what you learn chatting with folks as opposed to searching the Internet. I met an official of the Chad government at the International Small Business Congress held in Toronto in 1999.
In introducing himself he stressed that he was a Christian, as if I cared. He was from the southern capital city called N’Djamena. And he spoke French, rough English and an Arabic dialect. The Canadian government financed his attendance at the Congress.
The map of Chad shows the capital city, a landlocked nation, and Lake Chad. What it does not show is an exploding population, a semi-desert landscape and the development of oil reserves in the South.
The civil war in Chad that today is holding back development is between Muslims in the North and Christians in the South. Now I know why the Chad official I met in 1999 wanted me to know he was Christian.
Chad was a former French colony and an important source of cotton. Today its major export is oil sent via a pipeline through Cameroon.
But like much of sub-Saharan Africa, a combination of climate change, over- population and political instability is derailing their future.
Again, like much of Africa, water shortages mean women and children spending their time carrying scarce drinking water. Water that still has to be boiled.
The major water source is Lake Chad, and it has been a source of water not just for Chad, but Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon.
The not unexpected development is Lake Chad shrinking. There are proposals to channel water from the Congo into the lake. Something for the future if the nation can stabilize its politics.
From all reports Chad is a resource-rich nation. But who cares? A nation that cannot deal with its water crisis is not going to be developed regardless.