The EconomistJuly 20th 2019 Middle East & Africa 412 come per person fell from $1,200 in 2014 to
$810 in 2017, according to the imf. “Life is
much harder now. Outside the capital, lots
of people are struggling and there is seri-
ous discontent,” says Marielle Debos, the
author of “Living by the Gun in Chad”.
Mr Déby commands a small but profes-
sional army formed mainly of Zaghawa sol-
diers. They are well armed, often trained by
the French, and can be an effective force.
Despite military spending that is only a
ninth that of Nigeria, Chad has been better
at fighting Boko Haram. In 2015 Chadian
soldiers helped push the jihadists out of
big towns in northern Nigeria.
But today Mr Déby’s army is over-
stretched. A new wave of attacks by Boko
Haram and Islamic State of West Africa (a
Boko Haram offshoot) has hit the Lake
Chad Basin. Analysts say the new attackers
are better trained and better armed than
they were in the past. And while the Chad-
ian army is good at fighting outside the
country, inside it is less effective. Accord-
ing to Ms Debos, the need for France’s inter-
vention showed that some high-ranking
officers were unwilling to fight their kith
and kin among the rebels.
Relations with neighbouring Sudan are
also a problem. Mr Déby backed fighters in
Sudan’s rebellious Darfur region. In re-
sponse the government in Khartoum spon-
sored Chadian opponents who almost
killed the president in 2008. Now that his
rival dictator in Sudan, Omar al-Bashir, has
been ousted Mr Déby will fear meeting the
same fate. Chad does not have a profession-
al middle class like the one that spearhead-
ed Sudan’s revolution, but protests erupted
last year at Mr Déby’s promotion of a law
that could allow him to stay as president
until 2033, when he will be 81. In response
the government banned social media for
over a year, only reallowing it on July 14th.
France and America have several thou-
sand troops between them stationed in
N’Djamena. These soldiers give the presi-
dent no small amount of comfort. But Mr
Déby’s foreign patrons cannot protect him
from everything. 7
CAR
CAMEROONNIGERIASUDANNIGER CHADLIBYAEGYPTLakeChad DarfurBaga SolaN’DjamenaBoko Haram attacks
July 2018-July 17th 2019
Source: ACLED500 kmN
icki minajspoke, and Saudi Arabia lis-
tened. That is not quite what happened
with the scantily clad feminist rapper from
New York—though recent events make it a
tempting theory. This month Saudi offi-
cials disclosed that they want to loosen
“guardianship” rules that force women to
seek a male relative’s permission to marry,
travel abroad or accept many jobs. The pro-
posed change would end the travel restric-
tion, which also applies to men under the
age of 21. The idea leaked on the same day
that Ms Minaj (pictured) cancelled a gig in
Saudi Arabia, citing its oppression of wom-
en and gay people.
If the new rules take effect later this
year, as planned, both sexes will be free to
leave the country once they reach 18. Such a
shift would be controversial, and raise
awkward questions about the broader cul-
tural changes desired by the crown prince,
Muhammad bin Salman.
These changes would have been diffi-
cult to imagine five years ago. Last June
Saudi Arabia lifted a decades-long ban on
women driving. In 2017 King Salman de-
creed that women could seek government
services, such as education and health
care, without a man’s consent. The rules on
segregating the sexes have been unofficial-
ly relaxed, and Prince Muhammad has sug-
gested that women need not wear flowing
abayas (full-length gowns) in public.
All of this has passed without much
public brouhaha, in part because anyone
who might complain is in prison. Police
have arrested both clerics who oppose the
changes and liberal activists who want
more. Though the driving decision had its
detractors, hidebound husbands and fa-
thers can still coerce their charges into
staying at home. A recent YouGov poll
found that of the vast majority of Saudi
women who have not applied for a driving
licence, 16% refrained because of objec-
tions from a male relative.
Changing the guardianship laws would
prove more controversial, particularly in
conservative areas outside the big cities.
Some fear it could lead to more cases like
that of Rahaf Mohammed, a Saudi teenager
who fled to Thailand in January to escape
her family. Relatives unsuccessfully tried
to bring her back (she received asylum in
Canada). Other young women followed her
lead. Hence the cautious manner of the an-
nouncement. While the driving ban was
lifted by official decree, news of the guard-ianship change was leaked as a trial bal-
loon—first to the Saudi newspaper Okaz
and then to foreign outlets.
Prince Muhammad has not yet had
much luck overhauling the Saudi econ-
omy. Unemployment remains high and the
private sector is not creating jobs. His cul-
tural changes have gone further, but they
too have been uneven. In June a firm based
in the United Arab Emirates tried to open
an alcohol-free nightclub in Jeddah, the
most cosmopolitan Saudi city. Officials
shut it down on opening night, though it
has since reopened as a “lounge” (same
venue, less dancing).
Or there is the case of Ms Minaj, who
was due to perform at a music festival in
Jeddah this month. She seemed an odd fit
for a puritanical theocracy, given her raun-
chy outfits and lyrics. (“He toss my salad
like his name Romaine” is one of her mil-
der lines.) Days before the concert she
backed out. Hoping to save face, the Saudis
claimed it was in fact they who disinvited
her. The episode provoked wry commen-
tary on social media. In one widely shared
video, a young Saudi woman asked why she
had to wear an abaya while Ms Minaj was
free to come “shake her ass”.
It is a fair question. The prince’s behav-
iour is idiosyncratic: he jails reformers
even as he decrees reforms. He justifies
some social reforms as economic necessi-
ties (if Saudis can go to concerts at home,
they won’t spend their money abroad). The
public have no say. Some young Saudis are
enjoying this moment of relative open-
ness; others flee into exile, for reasons both
personal and political. Ironically, by letting
women travel, Prince Muhammad may al-
low some to leave and never return. 7CAIRO
The kingdom may let women travel
freely. Some may never come backWomen in Saudi ArabiaChanging the
guard
A bit too liberated for Saudi Arabia