Chad: Off The Blacklist

CHAD

Off the Blacklist

Citizens of Chad are able to once again enter the United States after President Trump removed the predominantly Muslim, Central African nation from the list of countries falling under his controversial travel ban.

The reversal was a calculated decision, as Chad counterterrorism forces have been key in the fight against Islamic militants in the region, the BBC reported. Chad is an important Western ally, and many were shocked that it even made it onto the list in the first place.

But Washington’s strategic about-face on Chad comes at an interesting moment in the nation’s history – a constitutional rewrite has effectively guaranteed that longtime President Idriss Déby could rule another 15 years.

Déby has been sparring with Boko Haram – the Islamic militant group infamous for the Nigerian schoolgirl kidnappings – ever since it overran the Lake Chad region in 2009. Boko Haram’s violence in the region has prompted an ongoing humanitarian crisisas the group attempts to impose Sharia law on the region and isolate it from aid groups and local governments. Millions from Chad, Niger, Nigeria and Cameroon have been displaced in the conflict.

As America’s war on terror intensified, Chad developed a reputation as a dutiful ally, eager to fight Boko Haram, when it deployed troops to fight the militants in Nigeria. But once Chad made President Trump’s blacklist, Déby withdrew hundreds of troops from the region, Reuters reported.

Trump seems to have bandaged the broken relationship with a pivotal regional ally by excluding Chad from the ban.

But one should be careful to classify Chad as a proponent of Western values now that it’s back in Trump’s good graces.

Resisting the wave of ousted strongmen across the continent, Chad’s parliament overwhelmingly approved a new constitution that could allow President Déby to hold his post until 2033, when he will be at least 80, Reuters reported.

Approved by a vote of 132 to 2, the rewritten constitution reinstates a two-term limit on the presidency, and extends the president’s term from five to six years. And because the new term limits are not retroactive, Déby, who’s been in office since 1990, could serve two terms after the next election, in 2021.

Despite overwhelming parliamentary support, the move ignited opposition groups who see the changes as turning Chad into a de-facto monarchy. To show their disapproval, they boycotted a two-week national forum that discussed the amendments and was attended by business leaders and high-ranking politicians.

For all the controversy of the constitutional change, however, it appears that counterterrorism trumps democratic norms when it comes to Western perceptions of Chad