Abéché, town, central Chad, a major trade center. With road traffic east to Sudan and caravans north to Libya, the town trades in livestock, dried fish, hides and skins, gum arabic, dates, salt, and indigo, and it is noted for the weaving of textiles. Abéché is in a sheep-raising and farming area and has a meat-packing plant. It is the site of a college. The town was the capital of an independent sultanate in the 16th century and of the Wadai kingdom in the 19th century; in addition, it was a notorious slave-trading center for about 300 years. The name of the town is sometimes spelled Abeshr or Abéchér. Population 187,936 (1993).