Conflits et violences dans le bassin du lac Tchad [Conflicts and violence in the Lake Chad basin

Abstract

There are many books on the violence and peace in Africa, with subjects such as colonial violence, violence against women, natural resources and violence, and sustainable peace and development, usually dedicated to the entire continent, to a big region (West Africa, North Africa, etc.), or a country. The book reviewed here is unique because it presents the scourge of violence in a region, the Lake Chad basin, not so big but with special characteristics: It is situated in a multinational context, at the conjunction of Cameroon, Chad, Niger, Nigeria, and, by extension, Central African Republic and beyond. Its long-dated human presence and its geographical situation in the Sahelian zone, between Saharan and Sub-Saharan Africa, highlight its strategic role within the African continent. The scientific contribution of the book is important, given the seriousness of the subject and the difficulties in conducting research in that region: The authors of chapter 5 witnessed several attacks, which are more than robberies, due to the proliferation of weapons in the region. The issues that this basin confronts have multiple causes that are not recent: the identity claims, the colonial period, the political vacuum created after the retreat of the Europeans, the rise of the local lords, the limited natural resources, and the variability of the Lake Chad; also, borders are fuzzy spaces where states have limited control. Bringing to our attention the local perspective on the facts is also valuable; for example, the local comments on terrorist groups are not expressed so much in terms of ‘terrorism’, as of ‘return of slavers’, which is considered part of an endless cycle of violence.