Mundo, a small business city in Chad's fertile south, is a stark contrast to N'Djamena, the dusty capital in the far north of the vast, largely desert Sahel nation.
The country's second-largest city is the southern capital, populated primarily by Christians and animists, but also by Muslim merchants and entrepreneurs.
It is also home to the administrative pillar of central power, which has been ruled by majority Muslim clans from the north and east for more than 40 years.
Monday's presidential election, in which President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno, the favorite over southern Prime Minister Success Masra, won, is likely to highlight the rift between the north and south.
In his 2023 book Le clivage Nord-Sud au Tchad (Chad's North-South Political Divide), historian Rambo Beguelem describes polls as a “cancer on social cohesion and cohesion”. I expected it to be.
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Chad gained independence from France in 1960 under its first president, François Tombalbay, a southern Christian.
But the south has been a rebel stronghold since 1979, when a revolt by southern and eastern clans ousted the south's Christian president, Felix Maloom, and brought an Islamist-led coalition to power. .
This was followed by eight years of severe repression under the Hisen Habre regime (1982-1990).
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Even today, a large part of the southern population feels politically ostracized and economically disadvantaged by the Zaghawa clan, originally from the east, the “Debi Dynasty” and its northern allies.
After 30 years of ruling with an iron fist, Idriss Deby Itno, who was killed by rebels in 2021, gave way to his son Mahamat, who, at 40, is now the front-runner in the presidential election. It has become.
Masra, also 40 years old, is from Beboni, less than 100 km from Mundu. He has significantly increased support for Stump in recent weeks and is seen as a standard-bearer by southerners.
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“Here, if we don't like something, we say so. It's the same between chiefs and ordinary people. Unlike in the north, we don't consider chiefs to be sacred,” says Joachim of Mundu. Bishop Kouraleyo Taronga said.
Taronga says cultural differences also arise from religious differences.
In particular, the so-called “diya'' (blood money in Islamic law), in which compensation is paid to the families of murder victims, is strongly opposed in the south.
“It came from the north,” said Silver Tamaib, 33, a lawyer with the Peaceful Women's Coalition in Mundu.
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“In conflicts with the north, the (monetary) amount always disadvantages the people of the south, whether they are the victims or the perpetrators,” Tamaibe said.
Conflict between indigenous farmers and nomads from the north sparks deadly fighting in the south, costing women and children on neither side.
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“Since 1979, nomadic herders and families of military officers in the north have taken up arms, killed and stolen entire herds,” said Mbind Jasnabee, a member of the Chad non-violent association Mundou.
Tensions between North and South also affect the economy. The South does not benefit from important economic activities such as cotton and oil.
For example, the southern oil city of Doba has little electricity, so students study outdoors at the foot of derricks.
Meanwhile, in Devi's hometown north of the desert city of Amjaras, hundreds of unoccupied luxury villas are receiving power.
“There is a thriving economy in the south, but it's mainly at the hands of northerners,” said Golmaji Sananbai, 50, coordinator of the Peace and Reconciliation Commission's CSAPR.
“As a southerner, I am oppressed by the regime, not the north,” Sanambai declared.
“If a southerner wants to open a stall on transit or at a gas station, barriers are erected or they are forced to sell,” Jasnabay added.
Muslims make up just over half of Chad's population, with around 40% Christians and 10% animists.
But apart from northern urban centers like N'Djamena, which has a population of 1.5 million, the fertile south is the most densely populated region.
“We have the same qualifications as people from the north, but it is impossible to get a job without being close to the government,” said a 22-year-old Mundu University student who declined to give his name. I fear retribution, but I will vote for Masra.
Sari Bakari, a teacher and researcher at N'Djamena's Supérieure Normale, worried that “the election result could further exacerbate the division between north and south.”