To complete a biographic and biometric identification database of its military personnel, the government of Chad has awarded a contract to Belgian firm Zetes. The administrative departments of the Ministry of Defense and army are implementing the solution to more effectively manage personnel.

Zetes will work with local ID partner Group Royal Chad to collect biometric and biographical data from Chadian soldiers and use AFIS technology to centralize the data and remove duplicates. After registering, each soldier receives a secure ID card that contains a bar code encoded with a photograph and fingerprint information.

Implementation began in May and officials expect to enroll about 35,000 active personnel. Zetes intends to issue the first ID cards from the project in the third quarter of this year. According to Zetes’ CEO Alain Wirtz, Zetes has completed similar projects in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Burundi.