It is a market town, and its population has recently been swollen by refugees from Chad.

In March 1846, Omar (son of Sheik Mohammed), nominal general of the Bornu sultan Ibrahim, suffered a defeat at Kousséri.

[3] In 1900 the village was occupied by soldiers of Rabij az-Zubayr (Rabih), a Sudanese warlord.

Rabih was not in Kousseri at the time but established himself in a fort on the right bank of the Chari.

Lamy did not think he had sufficient forces to attack Rabih immediately, but waited until the beginning of April when he was joined by a third expedition that was coming up the Chari under Émile Gentil.