Les « trous de mémoire » dans l'histoire africaine. La Sanûsiyya au Tchad : le cas du Ouaddaï

Abstract

Defeated during the twentieth century by three colonial powers, although only after a long and energetic resistance, victim of an enduring French « black legend » which portrayed it as a malevolent Muslim brotherhood, compromised by the diplomatic rivaties of the Great Powers from the time ofthe First World War, and deprived of its history and legitimacy by the regime of Colonel Gaddafy, the Sanusiyya was a major actor in the recent history of northern Africa, both in terms of the geographical extent of its influence and the duration of its presence on the historical scene (ca. 1840-1969). The case under study here is that of Wadday which, in the nineteenth century, was the most important political formation in the Chadian region and, from the 1860s, the favoured diplomatic and commercial partner of the brotherhood inprotecting the new economic axis of Benghazi-Kufra-Abeche. This article is a critical reassessment of available sources concerning Chado-Sanusi relations. Here, too, the « black legend » had its impact, constantly interpreting Sanusi activities south of the Sahara in terms of conspiracies and subversion. A well-informed French text, written by the interpreter Djian and until recently unavailable, provides a more balanced view of the role of the brotherhood, which appears to have functioned more on the Sharifian model of mediator among powers rather than that of seeking to challenge or seek power for itself