CONTENTS | ANB-BIA HOMEPAGE | WEEKLY NEWS
by Missé Nanando, Chad, June 1998
THEME = SOCIAL CONDIT.
Since the end of January 1998,
Chad's capital has had to cope with the irrational -
theft of human organs, stealing children, mysterious disappearances,
counterfeiters and forgers, even a tomato that weeps!
On 30 January 1998, a government press release informed the nation that Yaya Batit Ali, president of the Party for National Unity, Dialogue and Democracy, (PUNDD), one of the country's 67 political parties, had disappeared mysteriously.
Questions were asked. According to PUNDD, Yaya Batit Ali had been kidnapped and tortured by the National Security Forces (ANS), the regime's political police force. Most of the national and international press said the same. But two weeks later, it was announced that the ANS was not responsible for it. Those opposition political parties which had publicised the allegation, were obliged to recognise they had been duped.
In fact, it seems to have been the work of a group of kidnappers, who get hold of people to be sold to coffee planters in neighbouring Nigeria for enforced work on their plantations. Today, in spite of the uncertainty surrounding the affair, Yaya Badit Ali languishes in prison awaiting trial. Why? Because the authorities have accused him of spreading trouble in the country.
This isn't the only strange happening in N'Djamena. Last April, for a whole week, people filed through the studios of Chad's national television service to see the "weeping tomato". Some people were not convinced anything was untoward with the tomato. "Look", they said. "It's only a deformed tomato. It's probably been trampled on by a young goat, or it's not had enough room to develop of its own accord". Many others, however, who tend to believe in mysterious or magical powers, said: "The tomato is crying because Chad is suffering greatly".
There were other strange goings on in town, causing panic and forcing mothers to keep their children at home without any explanations offered. The warning went out that some people were going around, tearing out children's genital organs so as to become rich by trading them for use in magic. Children going to school were told not to speak to anyone they didn't know, neither to accept gifts from strangers. They were not even to greet passers by. The most striking example was that of a woman who strangled her little sister in order to get hold of her eyes and her brain. Caught by the police, she confessed that a guru had demanded these organs in return for making her very rich. Similarly, bodies of a mad man and two children were found without genitals, lying in a ditch, not far from N'Djamena's city hall. The CID never managed to find who was responsible for these outrages.
Because of all these goings-on, the authorities had to increase their vigilance. On 26 May this year, N'Djamena's Magistrate's Court handed down sentences on two people who were involved in the business of obtaining human organs. The whole story verges on the bizarre. A man consulted a marabout because he wanted to become invisible so he could steal without being seen! The marabout said the fellow had to bring him two eyes. So, Ahmat Abdelkerim (18) and his friend, Idriss, killed Abdelkader and took out his eyes. In court, the two criminals said they hadn't eaten for two days and hunger had driven them on...
Counterfeiters have also found themselves before the judge and even senior government officials have fallen victim to these unscrupulous gentlemen. There's the case of a government minister who lost his entire monthly salary because the bank notes delivered to him were all forgeries.
This year, a scandal shook the presidential entourage. In May, Djamal Aganye, a Chadian, was arrested by the police in Germany, in possession of a considerable amount of cocaine and a diplomatic passport. He told the police that he was a councillor at the presidency of the Republic of Chad. Since then, investigations have revealed that most of the diplomatic documents held by Chadians are false. In Djamal's case, it emerged that the diplomatic passport was really delivered by the Chadian authorities.
Today, counterfeiting, with an ever-increasing amount of forged bank notes in circulation, is becoming endemic in N'Djamena. Chad's capital has become a chosen spot for counterfeiters to lie low. Most of them come from the English speaking countries of West Africa. The number of daily arrests by the police indicates that poverty is the root cause of this new social evil. Victims are encouraged to eat, drink and be merry, and then are encouraged to part with their hard-gained earnings. Change is given in the form of forged currency.
The effects of devaluation are clear for all to see. There's epidemics, endemic food shortages in the countryside, salaries are not paid, and senior management officials find themselves hitting the poverty line. Because of this, people will do anything to earn a quick penny. The scene is set for all kinds of dishonest actions, even by those who are supposed to be setting us a example.
END
CONTENTS | ANB-BIA HOMEPAGE | WEEKLY NEWS
PeaceLink 1998 - Reproduction authorised, with usual acknowledgement