The Boulamat and land conflicts in urban Chad

The theme of our research is ＂the problem of land disputes in urban areas: the case of the first district of N’Djaména (Chad)＂. The choice of this theme was motivated by the resurgence of struggles observed between the ＂Boulamat＂ and other actors over land issues. There is also a large body of literature on land issues. Notably the works of (LAMBITAM: 2004, HOUDEINGAR:2012, MOUPOU et al. 2010, DONG MOUGNOL et al 2010, LEUMAKO NONGNI: 2015, NJOYA NDAM 2021), very few explore the interference of traditional chiefs in struggles over land. The question that guided our analysis was formulated as follows: How can we understand and explain the fact that the ＂Boulamat＂, who are supposed to establish peace and harmony between populations, have become the instigators of land-related tensions? In other words, how can we account for the Boulamat’s actions in relation to land? To answer this question, we have formulated the following hypothesis: the upsurge in land disputes observed in Chad’s urban areas stems from land speculation organized by the ＂Boulamat＂.