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Political parties: 3. Voters: 42%. Government still based on tribalism. President Sylvanus Olympic avowedly neutralist but warm friend of West, faces resistance from Ghana-backed northern tribes.
Exports: Palm products, peanuts. Per capita income: $40. U.S. aid (1961): $3,100,000. Heavily reliant on France, which is financing $20 million development program. Shaky government flirts with leftist Mali and Red Chinese but is antiCommunist.
13. NIGER (F.) Pop.: 2,870,000. Size: 450,000 sq. mi. Literacy: 2%. School attendance: 3%. College graduates: less than 10. Lowest school enrollment rate in ex-French Africa. People mostly nomadic Moslems whose life has not changed in centuries.
Political parties: 1. Voters: 60%. Unrest led jolly, ultra-conservative President Hubert Maga, 45, to jail opposition leaders last year. Western-style politics barely understood outside two main cities.
Exports: Peanuts. Per capita income: $40. U.S. aid (1961): $2,000,000. Outside southern farming zone, huge land is mostly desert. Only 18,000, wage earners in whole country. Niger needs everything, survives on French aid.
14. CHAD (F.) Pop.: 2,675,000. Size: 495,752 sq. mi. Literacy: 3%. School attendance: 22%. College graduates: Under 10. Christians: 5 %. Pagan blacks in south rule nomadic Moslems in north, who refuse to be taught by better educated southerners.
Political parties: 1. Voters: 80%. Popular, ultra-conservative Francois Tombalbaye rules country as President, Premier, Minister of Defense and Justice, head of only political party. Strongly pro-French.
Exports: Cotton, rice, cattle. Per capita income: $40. U.S. aid (1961): $100,000. Though twice as big as France, parched Chad has no ports or railways, few roads; thus its agricultural exports cannot compete on world markets, go mostly to France.
15. CENTRAL AFRICAN REP. (F.) Pop.: 1,227,000. Size: 238,000 sq. mi. Literacy: 8%. School attendance: 20%. College graduates: 10. Outside one real town, river port Bangui, primitive population untouched by West.
Political parties: 1. Voters: 65%. Moderate President David Dacko, former schoolteacher who did not finish high school, is slowly trying to build centrally administered state.
Exports: Cotton, coffee, timber. Per capita income: $40. U.S. aid (1961 ): None. Big, landlocked country is manfully diversifying agricultural economy, but 60% of its budget comes from French aid.
16. CAMEROUN (F. & Br.) Pop.: 4,907,000. Size: 166,800 sq. mi. Literacy: 15%. School attendance: 78%. College graduates: More than 100. Christians: 20%. Moslems: 20%. Natives mostly spirit-worshiping animists. Its 80 tribes range from Arabs to Pygmies.
Political parties: 7. Voters: 77%. Only former French dependency with strong political opposition. Communists outlawed by fanatically anti-Red President Ahmadou Ahidjo. Well-trained African civil service.
Exports: Coffee, cocoa, aluminum. Per capita income: $70. U.S. aid (1961): $2,100,000. Despite disease (malaria rate: nearly 100%), tribal terrorists, lack of transport, agricultural economy thrives; trade balance healthy.
17. GABON (F.) Pop.: 440,000. Size: 103,089 sq. mi. Literacy: 6%. School attendance: 80%. Graduates: Under 10. Christians: 40%. Coastal region civilized; cannibalism, female circumcision still common.