Africa-Press. After a seven-year hiatus, the International Am Djarass Festival of Desert Cultures in northeastern Chad has returned and will run until 13 February, with Niger as guest of honor.
Since last Saturday, dance performances and music concerts featuring artists from across Chad, as well as from Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mauritania, have brought renewed energy to the town near the Sudanese border.
At the opening of the festival’s sixth edition, Niger’s Minister of Handicrafts and Tourism, Agayichata Guichin Atta, said that in a world marked by tensions, crises, and misunderstanding, culture remains a space for meeting and dialogue—helping people understand and respect one another and build together. She added, to warm applause, that regional countries stand to benefit from joining forces to make culture a tool for peace, development, and job creation.
Chadian Prime Minister Alami Halina reaffirmed his government’s commitment to making the desert, culture, and tourism key pillars of development, and voiced an ambition to have desert cultures recognized as part of humanity’s living heritage.
For the festival’s founder and organizer, Issouf Eli Mousami, the event is an important economic, political, and cultural “lever” that supports “South–South cooperation.”
Am Djarass was also the stronghold of former president Idriss Déby Itno, who was killed in clashes with rebels after three decades in power. After his death, his son Mahamat Idriss Déby was named transitional president in April 2021, before being elected president in May 2024 in a contested vote.
