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CHAD
From Toumai to Evapotranspiration
By Jheri St. James
The ancient land called Chad
was inhabited over one million years ago, at a time when much
of it was only water. In modern Chad, precious water is often
difficult to find. Famine and war seem everywhere. Over the
centuries Chad served as the stomping-ground for a litany
of cultures and kingdoms, and when the French arrived in 1891,
they subsequently controlled it until Chad gained its independence
in 1960. Decades of ethnic warfare followed, as well as invasions
from Libya, its most powerful neighbor. A certain level of
peace was restored in 1990, but local power struggles continue,
and the future of this unstable land is uncertain at best.
The capital is N’Djamena. Since the expulsions of residents
from Darfur in 2003 by Janijawid armed militia and Sudanese
military, about 200,000 refugees remain in eastern Chad; Chad
remains an important mediator in the Sudanese civil conflict,
reducing tensions with Sudan arising from cross-border banditry;
Chadian Aozou reels reside in southern Libya; only Nigeria
and Cameroon have heeded the Lake Chad Commission’s
admonition to ratify the delimitation treaty, which also includes
the Chad-Niger and Niger-Nigeria boundaries.
 The
ancient land called Chad was inhabited over one million years
ago, at a time when much of it was only water. In modern Chad,
precious water is often difficult to find. Famine and war
seem everywhere. Over the centuries Chad served as the stomping-ground
for a litany of cultures and kingdoms, and when the French
arrived in 1891, they subsequently controlled it until Chad
gained its independence in 1960. Decades of ethnic warfare
followed, as well as invasions from Libya, its most powerful
neighbor. A certain level of peace was restored in 1990, but
local power struggles continue, and the future of this unstable
land is uncertain at best. The capital is N’Djamena.
Since the expulsions of residents from Darfur in 2003 by Janijawid
armed militia and Sudanese military, about 200,000 refugees
remain in eastern Chad; Chad remains an important mediator
in the Sudanese civil conflict, reducing tensions with Sudan
arising from cross-border banditry; Chadian Aozou reels reside
in southern Libya; only Nigeria and Cameroon have heeded the
Lake Chad Commission’s admonition to ratify the delimitation
treaty, which also includes the Chad-Niger and Niger-Nigeria
boundaries.
Long-term
weaknesses include its landlocked position, oppressive poverty,
the shrinking of Lake Chad, and the ever increasing expansion
of the Sahara Desert. Desertification is a process involving
the progressive destruction or degradation of existing vegetative
cover to form desert. This can occur due to overgrazing, deforestation,
drought, and the burning of extensive areas. Once formed,
deserts can only support a sparse range of vegetation, and
the new conditions typically include a significantly lowered
water table, a reduced supply of surface water, increased
salinity in natural waters and soils, progressive destruction
of native vegetation, and an accelerated rate of erosion.
Desertification has been recognized at an international level
as a major threat to biodiversity. Consequently, numerous
countries have developed biodiversity action plans to counter
its effects, particularly in relation to the protection of
endangered flora and fauna. A number of solutions have been
tried in order to reduce the rate of desertification and regain
lost land. Leguminous plants, which extract nitrogen from
the air and fix it in the soil, can be planted to restore
fertility. Stones stacked around the base of trees collect
morning dew and help retain soil moisture. Artificial grooves
can be dug in the ground to retain rainfall and trap wind-blown
seeds. In Iran, petroleum is being sprayed over semi-arid
land with crops. This coats seedlings to prevent moisture
loss and stop them being blown away. Windbreaks made from
trees and bushes to reduce soil erosion and evapotranspiration
was widely encouraged by development agencies from the middle
of the 1980s in the Sahel area of Africa. With many of the
local people using trees for firewood and cooking the problem
has become acute. In order to gain further supplies of fuel
the local population add more pressure to the depleted forests;
thus adding to the desertification process. Solar ovens are
being advocated as a means to relieving some of this pressure
upon the environment.
N’Goura
Landscape
At
the local level, individuals and governments can help to reclaim
and protect their lands. In areas of sand dunes, covering
the dunes with large boulders or petroleum will interrupt
the wind regime near the face of the dunes and prevent the
sand from moving. Sand fences are used throughout the Middle
East and the United States, in the same way snow fences are
used in the north. Placement of straw grids, each up to a
square meter in area, will also decrease the surface wind
velocity. Shrubs and trees planted within the grids are protected
by the straw until they take root. However, some studies suggest
that planting of trees actually depletes water supplies in
the area. In areas where some water is available for irrigation,
shrubs planted on the lower one-third of a dune's windward
side will stabilize the dune. This vegetation decreases the
wind velocity near the base of the dune and prevents much
of the sand from moving. Higher velocity winds at the top
of the dune level it off and trees can be planted atop these
flattened surfaces. Oases and farmlands in windy regions can
be protected by planting tree fences or grass belts. Sand
that manages to pass through the grass belts can be caught
in strips of trees planted as wind breaks 50 to 100 meters
apart adjacent to the belts. Small plots of trees may also
be scattered inside oases to stabilize the area. On a much
larger scale, a "Green Wall," which will eventually
stretch more than 5,700 kilometers in length, nearly as long
as the Great Wall of China, is being planted in north-eastern
China to protect "sandy lands"--deserts believed
to have been created by human activity.
More efficient use of existing water resources and control
of salinization are other effective tools for improving arid
lands. New ways are being sought to use surface-water resources
such as rain water harvesting or irrigating with seasonal
runoff from adjacent highlands. New ways also being sought
to find and tap groundwater resources and to develop more
effective ways of irrigating arid and semiarid lands. Research
on the reclamation of deserts also is focusing on discovering
proper crop rotation to protect the fragile soil, on understanding
how sand-fixing plants can be adapted to local environments,
and on how grazing lands and water resources can be developed
effectively without being overused.
Shrinking
Lake Chad
* * *
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| Toumai:
Oldest ancestor? Image: MPFT |
This is
a picture of the recently unearthed human-like skull which
is being described as the most important find of its type
in living memory. It was found in the desert in Chad by an
international team and is thought to be approximately seven
million years old. "I knew I would one day find it...
I've been looking for 25 years," said Michel Brunet of
the University of Poitiers, France. Scientists say it is the
most important discovery in the search for the origins of
humankind since the first Australopithecus "ape-man"
remains were found in Africa in the 1920s. The newly discovered
skull finally puts to rest any idea that there might be a
single "missing link" between humans and chimpanzees,
they say.
Analysis of the ancient find is not yet complete, but already
it is clear that it has an apparently puzzling combination
of modern and ancient features.
 |
| The
hominid's jaw was found later |
Henry
Gee, senior editor at the scientific journal Nature, said
that the fossil made it clear how messy the process of evolution
had been. "It shows us there wasn't a nice steady progression
from ancient hominids to what we are today," he told
BBC News Online. "It's the most important find in living
memory, the most important since the australopithecines in
the 1920s. It's amazing to find such a wonderful skull that's
so old," he said. The skull is so old that it comes from
a time when the creatures which were to become modern humans
had not long diverged from the line that would become chimpanzees.
There
were very few of these creatures around relative to the number
of people in the world today, and only a tiny percentage of
them were ever fossilized. So despite all the false starts,
failed experiments and ultimate winners produced by evolution,
the evidence for what went on between 10 and five million
years ago is very scarce.
There
will be plenty of debate about where the Chad skull fits into
the incomplete and sketchy picture researchers have drawn
for the origins of the human species. Sahelanthropus tchadensis,
as the find has been named, may turn out to be a direct human
ancestor or it may prove to be a member of a side branch of
our family tree. The team which found the skull believes it
is that of a male, but even that is not 100% clear. Future
finds may make the whole picture of human evolution clearer.
The Sahelanthropus has been nicknamed Toumai, a name
often given to children born in the dry season in Chad. The
scientist who led the team which found the Toumai  skull
has described his delight. "It's a lot of emotion to
have in my hand - the beginning of the human lineage,"
said Michel Brunet of the University of Poitiers, France.
"I have been looking for this for so long. I knew I would
one day find it... I've been looking for 25 years," he
told reporters in Chad. "Toumai is arguably the most
important fossil discovery in living memory, rivaling the
discovery of the first 'ape-man' 77 years ago - the find which
effectively founded the modern science of palaeoanthropology,"
he said. Professor Chris Stringer at the Natural History Museum
in London, UK, said that the discovery of Toumai was "very
significant". "First, because of its location in
what is now desert, over a thousand miles away from the sites
in East Africa that have featured in the search for our origins
so far. "Second, because it is the only relatively complete
skull so far discovered in a 'fossil gap' of five million
years between the ancestral apes of nine million years ago
and the australopithecines, generally regarded as our close
relatives, from four million years onwards," he said.
Sahelanthropus
tchadensis, to give Toumai its scientific name, had a
mixture of features: "It had an ape-like brain size and
skull shape, combined with a more human-like face and teeth.
"It also sported a remarkably large brow-ridge, more
like that of younger human species. Its discovery shows how
much evidence has been missing up to now," Professor
Stringer said. The number of precursors of modern humans living
at the time of Toumai might well be as high as the number
of modern ape species alive today. Researchers would be looking
for gorilla and chimpanzee ancestors from Toumai's time, too,
he added.
* * *
An archeological site was also the location of the soil collection
from Chad. “The Sao site in Walia, N’Djamena was
the home of the Sao people, who lived along the Chari River
for thousands of years before disappearing altogether. They
are supposedly the ancestors of modern day Chadians,”
wrote Felix Mbatalbaye, of the public affairs section of the
U.S. Embassy in N’Djamena. His supervisor asked him
to make this collection for us. Chad is one of the more difficult
countries from which to obtain this precious dirt, so we are
particularly grateful for Mr. Mbatalbaye’s efforts on
our behalf. Perhaps his actions will never find their way
into any international archeology magazines, but they will
always rest in our hearts as generous and good-spirited.
*
* *
 Chad
is an ethnically diverse West African country. Each of its
regions boasts its own unique varieties of music and dance.
The Fulani people, for example, use single-reeded flutes,
while the ancient griot tradition uses five-string kinde and
various kinds of horns, and the Tibesti region uses lutes
and fiddles. Musical ensembles playing horns and trumpets
such as the long royal trumpets known as waza or
kakaki are used in coronations and other upper-class
ceremonies throughout both Chad and Sudan. Traditional Chadian
instruments include the hu hu (string instrument
with calabash loudspeakers), kakaki (a tin horn),
maracas, lute, kinde (a bow harp) and various kinds
of horns. Other instruments include the flute and drums music
of the Kanembu and the balaphone, whistle, harp and
kodjo drums of the Sara people, while the Baguirmians
are known for drum and zither music, as well as a folk dance
in which a mock battle is conducted between dancers wielding
large pestles. The national anthem of Chad is La Tchadienne,
written in 1960 by Paul Villard and Louis Gidrol with help
from Gidrol’s student group. The Teda live in the area
around the Tibesti Mountains. Their folk music revolves around
men’s string instruments and women’s vocal music.
String instruments like the keleli are used to “speak
for” male performers, since it is considered inappropriate
for a man to sing in front of an adult woman.
Following independence, Chad, like most other African countries,
quickly began producing some popular music, primarily in a
style similar to the soukous music of the Democratic Republic
of the Congo. Styles of Chadian popular music include sai,
which uses rhythms from the southern part of Chad –
this style was popularized by a group called Tibesti. Other
bands include the Sahel’s International Challal and
African Melody, while musicians include the Sudanese-music-influenced
guitarist Ahmed Pecos and Chadian-French musician Clément
Masdongar.
Chad has produced several important writers. The tales of
Joseph Brahim Seid, including Au Tchad sous les étoiles
(1962) and the autobiographical Un enfant du Tchad
(1967) are Chadian classics. Baba Moustapha, who died in 1982
at the age of 30, left several notable works, one of which,
Le Commandant Chaka (published posthumously in 1983),
denounces military dictatorships. Poetry is a popular form
of expression in the north.
 Chadian
handicrafts include carpets, woven mats, fabric, jewelry,
wool rugs, beads, leather products and wood carvings. Calabashes
(a type of gourd) are shaped and engraved to serve many household
purposes and to make musical instruments. The village of Gaoui,
a short distance from N’Djamena, is known for its fine
pottery. Generally, each village has its own distinctive shapes
for water jars and pottery.
Live theatre
in Chad is often satirical and performers poke fun at people
in the news. The Cheikh Anta Diop theatre group is popular
and performer Haikal Zakaria, who plays the character “Commandant
Al Kanto,” is often featured on television. Mahamat
Saleh’s feature film Bye Bye Africa, a Franco-Chadian
co-production about a Chadian who returns to the country,
has been shown at international festivals, including the 2000
Toronto International Film Festival.
* * *
The Save
Darfur Coalition is an alliance of over 175 faith-based advocacy
and humanitarian organizations whose mission is to raise public
awareness about the ongoing genocide in Darfur and to mobilize
a unified response to the atrocities that threaten the lives
of more than two milllion people in the Darfur region. To
learn more, please visit  http://www.SaveDarfur.org.
David Rubenstein, of the coalition, wrote: “Accompanied
by acclaimed actress Mia Farrow, I traveled to the region
to learn about the lives of those displaced by violence, to
tell them that the world will not forget them, and to gather
their stories . . . posted photos and documentary film footage
from the tip on our website. . . all the people we met believed
that the world community would end the violence and allow
them to recover their lives and return to their homes. We
met real people struggling to get through each day, grinding
grain, and taking care of children. The children wanted to
meet us and play with us. The adults had smiles for us. Most
of all, they wanted us to tell the world that they were waiting
to go home.”
* * *
Evapotranspiration
is the term for loss of moisture both from the soil in evaporation,
and from plants in transpiration. Moisture is a big issue
in Chad, both evapotranspiration and the tears shed by so
many millions of refugees and grieving Chadians due to all
the political conflicts and genocide. From the time of Toumai,
(a child born in the dry season) until the present, man has
shed tears, and the water level in Chad has diminished. Could
Mother Earth, creator of the soil of Chad, be symbolically
losing her moisture in reaction to all those tears? It’s
a strange thought, but we are inextricably linked to our Mother
and she does care for us, each of us, as we care for each
other. People like David Rubenstein express their caring in
action, looking at the tears, wiping the tears, and helping
to stop the tears. Let us hope and pray that some day Chad
will be a land of only music and culture and no more weeping.
With great respect we add the soil of Chad to our collection.
There are two words for peace in Chad—la paix
and salaam.
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