The Bébalem massacre () was a massacre of Sara farmers in the southern

French Chad Chad was a part of the French colonial empire from 1900 to 1960. Colonialism, Colonial rule under the French began in 1900 when the Military Territory of Chad was established. From 1905, Chad was linked to the federation of French colonial poss ...

town of Bébalem. It was carried out on 16 April 1952 by

Senegalese Tirailleurs The Senegalese Tirailleurs () were a corps of Troupes coloniales, colonial infantry in the French Army. They were initially recruited from Saint-Louis, Senegal, the initial colonial capital city of French West Africa and subsequently throughout W ...

on the orders of the French colonial authorities after the farmers had started protesting the results of a local election.

Background

In the

colony A colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule, which rules the territory and its indigenous peoples separated from the foreign rulers, the colonizer, and their ''metropole'' (or "mother country"). This separated rule was often orga ...

cotton Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure ...

had become a predominant export product from the late 1920s onwards. The production rose from 17

tonnes The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1,000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton in the United States to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the s ...

in 1929 to 80.500 tonnes in 1957. This created an increasingly large divide between impoverished rural labourers on the one hand and the powerful chiefs and middlemen who pocketed most of the profits on the other. According to

René Lemarchand René Lemarchand (born 1932) is a French- American political scientist who is known for his research on ethnic conflict and genocide in Rwanda, Burundi and Darfur. Publishing in both English and French, he is particularly known for his work on t ...

, "the parastatal agency responsible for the production quotas, the , came to be regarded by the peasant masses as prime symbol of corporate and chiefly ruthlessness". Moreover, the French administration's focus on cotton led to a decrease in food production and even to famines in some areas. These conditions led to tensions and occasional violent outbursts against the chiefs. In 1947, the

Chadian Progressive Party The Chadian Progressive Party (, PPT), known as the National Movement for the Cultural and Social Revolution (, MNRCS) for the last two years of its existence, was the first African political party in Chad. It was a regional branch of the African ...

(PPT) was founded by

Gabriel Lisette Gabriel Francisco Lisette (2 April 1919 – 3 March 2001) was a Chadian politician who played a key role in the decolonization of Chad. Biography Of African descent, he was born at Portobelo, Panama, Portobelo in Panama on 2 April 1919. He bec ...

. Although the PPT was a relatively moderate party and Lisette was close to

Félix Houphouët-Boigny Félix Houphouët-Boigny (; 18 October 1905 – 7 December 1993), affectionately called Papa Houphouët or Le Vieux ("The Old One"), was an Ivorian politician and physician who served as the first List of heads of state of Ivory Coast, pr ...

, it grew into an important opponent of the colonial administration, helping to organize syndical opposition in the Cotonfran factories. Meanwhile, the colonial administrators and chiefs were closer to the Chadian Democratic Union (UDT).

Massacre and aftermath

On 30 March 1952,

local elections Local may refer to: Geography and transportation * Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand * Local, Missouri, a community in the United States Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Local'' (comics), a limited series comic book by Bria ...

were held for the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

. The announcement that the PPT had lost the Bébalem election soon led to virulent protests by local cotton farmers, who took to the streets armed with blades. The French authorities decided to dispatch a contingent of

to strike down the protests. A force of about 120 to 150

infantrymen Infantry, or infantryman are a type of soldier who specialize in ground combat, typically fighting dismounted. Historically the term was used to describe foot soldiers, i.e. those who march and fight on foot. In modern usage, the term broadl ...

entered Bébalem on 16 April 1952 and fired on the crowd, killing an uncertain number of demonstrators. Additionally, the leaders of the protest were arrested and imprisoned. Estimates of the death toll vary greatly: 24 according to the author , 70 according to the circle of the canton chief, and 375 according to witnesses who survived the massacre. The future playwright , aged four at the time, was a witness to the massacre.

References

{{reflist French colonisation in Africa April 1952 African resistance to colonialism Political history of Chad 1952 in Chad Massacres in 1952 Resistance to the French colonial empire Massacres committed by France Massacres in Africa Violence in Chad Chad–France relations 20th-century mass murder in Africa Massacres of protesters in Africa