Quite good, as often with TV5 Monde in Africa, article about what's happening there currently:
http://information.tv5monde.com/en-continu/tchad-une-vingtaine-de-personnes-arretees-lors-d-une-manifestation-86801Unfortunately only for French speaking eyes.
Last Thursday, a sit-in from graduated students to call for public jobs (which have been shut for a while now) has been violently repressed in N'djamenna, the capital.
Today, there was a march to protest against political violence in the country lasting for 25 years, while the country pretends defending democracy since it is fighting terrorism.
25 years also being the number of years in which Idriss Deby, president that came by a coup in 1990, is in the sit.
This wonderful president will hold presidential elections on early April, and already screwed its 'two terms rule' by changing the Constitution in 2004.
Since 2003, Tchad economy is in big part based on oil money, then you can guess that this isn't particularly brilliant for this lately either.
The case of Tchad is interesting because it's been an all time very strategic place for the French army and all kinds of its military operations that could be 'more or less useful' in the region.
So far, Tchad politics only worked by coups, and when Deby was endangered, French only had to start their planes, bomb, ruled. Last time it happened was under Sarkozy.
The students that have been violently repressed lately belong to several civic organizations that 'only' ask for socio-economical and democratical progress, then not really the guys you will easily launch your planes on when you're supposed to be called 'France'.
They are determined to ask for the liberation of some of those that have been enjailed during that repression.
Idriss Deby, 64 this year
So far, this isn't something very big, but apprently the authorities were very fussy on monitoring this demonstration, and in this 'post-Burkina context' (the Revolution I mean), where democratical claims become bigger and bigger all over Francophone Africa, helped by some very active and modern new organizations, notably born in the context of the last Senegalese presidential elections which try to spread everywhere they can, all of this 'helped' by the economical context for oil countries, it's not like a very safe situation.
This while Tchad still is that very strategical country militarily, very strategical for French, leading their big 'anti-Jihadist' operation from there to Mauritania, and of whom Tchadians have been some strong allies to harshly fight to free northern Mali in 2013, and which would also be the only serious local army to prevent Boko Haram to spread to the East, the North, and well, maybe even the South. An army mostly working on oil money too...
This also in a context where France announced that most of their forces would withdraw from Centrafrique soon (in order to be back in Lybia apparently, hmm, Lybia, a country with which Tchad also had historical problems...), while the balance of the confessional Centrafrican conflict is still very fragile right now and was close to spread to southern Tchadian Muslim populations at one point.
Tchad really is the strategical tipping point in the region.
So, one can only hope that if ever people become 'stupidly demanding', that wonderful president won't be totally stupid, and, that, eventually, our other 'wonderful president' will help him to make the 'right choices' if ever that's not obvious for him.
From UK gov
I had answered to a job offer from something that works for the French military supply there in Tchad lately, but, people are stupid, they ask for specific qualifications.
