With regard to Islamic practices in Chad, the U.S. Department of State Annual Report for International Religious Freedom for 1999 states that:

The vast majority of Muslims practice a moderate form of Islam known locally as Tidjani, which originated in 1727 under Sheik Ahmat Tidjani in what is now Morocco and Algeria. Tidjani Islam, as practiced in the country, incorporates some local African religious elements. A small minority of the country's Muslims (5 to 10 percent) is considered fundamentalist. (9 Sept. 1999)

The report also states that "Itinerant Muslim imams" from Sudan, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan proselityze in the country, that frictions developed between Muslim moderates and fundamentalists and that government had to intervene to prevent "fundamentalist Islamic imams" from spreading violence among Muslims.

A February 1995 report entitled France, Tchad, Soudan, au gré des clans. Dossier noir no 3, available on the Website of "Survie", a campaign of French citizens to alleviate hunger and promote development, states that the coming to power of Idriss Deby in December 1990 led to an inflow of Sudanese Muslim Brothers as well as Iranian and Pakistani preachers who attempted to introduce a more radical brand of Islam in Chad.

A 11 February 1993 report published in La Lettre du Continent states that:

Muslim Sunnis and Chiites were engaged in a covert struggle of influence in Ndjamena. The report also states that:

[Translation]

Imam Hissein Hassan of the Mosque of Njamena is a disciple of Hassan Tourabi, the leader of Sudan's People's Arab Islamic Council militias. The Imam arrived in Njamena in 1990 with the coming to power of the Zakawa tribe. The Imam is held responsible for the proliferation of private mosques ... in Ndjamena, but remains under the control of the authorities in power.

Algeria, which sponsors former president Goukouni Weddeye, the spiritual godfather of the BET (Borkou, Ennedi, Tibesti), has infiltrated in Chad the powerful Tidjani sect [sic] in order to keep an eye on Sudan which has been training Maghrebine islamists in camps financed by Iran... The Saudis [Wahabites] contribution is not less important. They finance the construction of mosques in the capital and in the rather animist and Christian South. One of the first mission led by professors Souleymane Asalroumi and Abdelaziz al Jarbo was to expose Chadians to the Wahabite brotherhood.

A 26 January 1993 AFP report states that religious missionaries form Sudan were spreading Muslim fundamentalism in Chad where Christians and Muslims have been trying to co-exist peacefully. Several Imams, including the Imam of Ndjamena's Grand Mosque, arrived in Chad with the coming to power of Idriss Deby who had been conducting his military operations from Islamic Sudan (ibid.). Other mosques also in the capital also fell under their control and other Islamic activists have appeared along the road linking Ndjamena to South Sudan (ibid.). Chadian authorities have often expressed their concern about this situation. According to the report:

[Translation]

one of the [fundamentalist] sects, the Anssaras, was banned but many prayer locations - each sect having its own - have opened in most neighbourhoods without leaving time to the authorities to react.

The pressure is caused, according to different western sources, to the Wahabite current as more moderate Tidjanes were up to now a majority in Chadian Islam...

Sometimes, the "bearded men" -as they are being called by a section of the population - were involved in some incidents, namely in their attempt to struggle against animist practices such as the wearing of amulets.

The reports quotes a person close to the head of state as saying that this religious thrust is directly related to the economic crisis, that fundamentalists were targeting the eastern region of Ouaddai and that they were building mosques in the south of the country.

On the activities of Muslim fundamentalists in Chad, Country Reports 1999 states that:

Within the Islamic community, the Government intervened to imprison and sanction fundamentalist Islamic imams believed to be promoting conflict among Muslims. In January the Government arbitrarily arrested and detained imam Sheikh Mahamat Marouf, the fundamentalist Islamic leader of the north eastern town of Abeche and refused to allow his followers to meet and pray openly in their mosque. Sheihk Marouf remained in jail without formal charges until November 19 when the President ordered his release. The Government prohibited a fundamentalist imam in N'Djdamena, Sheik Faki Suzuki (named after the Suzuki car equipped with loudspeakers that he used for broadcasting his sermons around town) from preaching Islam for 6 months, from October 1998 to March. The Government claimed that his messages promoted violence, and it also placed him under house arrest (Feb. 2000 Section 2a).

No further information on the tensions between Tidjani and fundamentalist (Wahabit) Muslims could be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

Agence France Presse (AFP). 26 January 2000. Pierre Briand. "Le fondamentalisme musulman se manifeste au Tchad." (NEXIS)

Annual Report for International Religious Freedom for 1999. 9 September 1999. United States Department of State. http://www.state.gov/www/global/human_rights/irf_rpt/1999/irf_chad999.html [Accessed 8 Aug. 2000]

Country Reports 1999. February 2000. United States Department of State. http://www.state.gov/www/global/human_rights/1999_hrp_report/chad.html [Accessed 14 Aug. 2000]

La Lettre du Continent [Paris]. 11 February 1993. "Compétition islamique." (NEXIS)

France, Tchad, Soudan, au gré des clans. Dossier noir no 3. February 1995. Survie. http://www.globenet.org/survie/extraits/Dosnoicomplets/DN3/DN3-3.htm [Accessed 11 Aug. 2000]

IRB databases

LEXIS/NEXIS

REFWORLD

Internet Sources including:

Islam-Network

The Islamic Gateway

Islamic Resources

Links to the Muslim World

World News Connection (WNC)