TIME: Almanac 1995

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<text id=93CT1645> <link 90TT3362> <title> Chad--History </title> <history> Compact ALMANAC--CIA Factbook Northern Africa Chad </history> <article> <source>CIA World Factbook</source> <hdr> History </hdr> <body> Ancient Arab manuscripts and modern archeological investigations show that well-developed societies flourished around Lake Chad more than 1,000 years ago. The kingdoms of Kanem and Ouaddai were known to traders and geographers from the late Middle Ages. From that time to the present, Chad has served as a crossroads for the Muslim peoples of the desert and savanna regions and the animist-Bantu tribes of the tropical forests. From pre-Christian times until the late Middle Ages, the Sao people, who lived along the Chari River, produced interesting terra cotta artifacts. Considerable archeological work has been done on the sites of Sao settlements, 700 of which have been identified. The relatively weak Sao chiefdoms eventually disappeared as they were overtaken by the powerful chiefs of what were to become the Kanem-Bornu and Baguirmi kingdoms. At their peak, they and the Kingdom of Ouaddai controlled a good part of what is now Chad and parts of Niger and Sudan. From 1500 to 1900, Arab slave raids were widespread. The French first penetrated Chad in 1891 and established their authority through military expeditions, primarily against the Muslim kingdoms. The first major colonial battle for Chad was fought on April 22, 1900. Although the French won, their commander, Major Lamy, was killed, as was Rabah, the leader of the opposing African force. The French declared the territory pacified in 1911, but armed clashes between colonial troops and local bands continued for many years thereafter. The northern region was not occupied by the French until 1914. In 1905, administrative responsibility for Chad was placed under a governor general stationed at Brazzaville. Although Chad joined the French colonies of Gabon, Oubangui-Chari, and Moyen Congo to form the federation of French Equatorial Africa (AEF) in 1910, its status as a colony was not created until 1920. In 1959, the territory of French Equatorial Africa was dissolved, and four states-Gabon, the Central African Republic, Congo (Brazzaville), and Chad-became autonomous members of the French Community. In 1960, Chad became an independent nation under its first president, Francois Tombalbaye. Chad's long civil war began as a tax revolt in 1965, and soon set the Muslim north and east against the southern-led government. Even with the help of French combat forces, the Tombalbaye government was never able to repress the insurgency. Tombalbaye's rule became more irrational and brutal, leading the military to carry out a coup d'etat in 1975, and to install Gen. Felix Malloum, a southerner, as head of state. In 1978, Malloum's government was broadened to include more northerners. Internal dissent within the government led the northern prime minister, Hissein Habre, to send his forces against the national army at N'Djamena in February 1979. This act led to intense fighting among the 11 factions that emerged. At this point, the civil war had become so widespread that there was no effective government, and external observers were obliged to step in. A series of four international conferences held first under Nigerian and then Organization of African Unity (OAU) sponsorship attempted to bring the Chadian factions together. At the fourth conference, held in Lagos in August 1979, the Lagos accord was signed, which established a transitional government pending national elections. In November 1979, the National Union Transition Government (GUNT) was created with a mandate to govern for 18 months. Goukouni Oueddei, a northerner, was named president; Col. Kamougue, a southerner, vice president; and Habre, minister of defense. This coalition proved fragile, and in March 1980, renewed fighting broke out between Goukouni's and Habre's forces. The war dragged on inconclusively until Goukouni sought and obtained Libyan intervention. More than 7,000 Libyan troops remained in Chad until October 1981 when Goukouni requested complete withdrawal of Libyan forces; Libyan forces actually departed toward the end of November, pulling back to the Aozou Strip in northern Chad, which they have occupied since 1973, and were replaced by an OAU peacekeeping force of 3,500 troops from Nigeria, Senegal, and Zaire. At the request of the OAU, the U.S. Government allocated $12 million to provide airlift and nonlethal equipment for these forces; $8 million was actually spent. A special summit of the OAU's Ad Hoc committee on the Chad/Libya Dispute in February 1982 called for reconciliation among all the factions, particularly those led by Goukouni and Habre, who had resumed fighting in eastern Chad. Although Habre agreed to participate, Goukouni categorically refused to negotiate with Habre. In a series of ensuing battles, Habre's forces defeated the GUNT, and Habre occupied N'Djamena on June 7, 1982, the date of the founding of the third republic. The OAU force remained neutral during the conflict, and all of its elements were withdrawn from Chad at the end of June. In the summer of 1983, GUNT forces launched an offensive against government positions in northern and eastern Chad. Following a series of initial defeats, government forces succeeded in stopping the rebels. At this point, Libyan forces directly intervened once again, bombing government forces at Faya Largeau and following with ground attacks, which forced the government's troops to withdraw to the south. In response to Libya's direct intervention, French and Zairian forces were sent to Chad to assist in defending the government. With the deployment of French troops, the military situation stabilized, leaving the Libyans and rebels in control of all of the country north of the 16th parallel. In September 1984, the French and Libyan Governments announced agreement for a mutual withdrawal of their forces from Chad. By mid-November 1984, all French and Zairian troops were withdrawn. Libya never honored the withdrawal accord, and its forces continued to occupy northern Chad. In November 1986, Habre's forces began attacks against the Libyan occupiers of the northern third of the country. Although Libyan forces were more heavily equipped than were the Chadians, the Forces Armees Nationales Tchadiennes (FANT) won victories at all the important cities involved between early January and early April; particularly important were Chadian victories at Ouadi-doum, Faya Largeau, and Fada in the first quarter of 1987. The Chadian offensive ended in August 1987, with the taking of Aozou Town, the principal village in the Aozou Strip. Chadian Government forces held the village for a month and lost it on August 28, 1987. to a heavy Libyan counterattack. Libyan forces continue to hold Aozou Airbase, a Libyan-built facility straddling the border whose runway is inside Chadian territory, as well as the rest of the Aozou Strip. An uneasy truce began in September 1987 and continued as late as March 1988. Political Conditions The Chadian Government, announced in October 1982, is organized according to the Fundamental Act proclaimed by the Command Council of the Armed Forces of the North (CCFAN). The act provides for a president and head of state, a Council of Ministers, and a 30-member National Consultative Council formed of representatives from each of Chad's prefectures and N'Djamena. In an effort to promote internal reconciliation, members of all regions and ethnic groups of Chad have been included in the Council of Ministers and the National Consultative Council. From the time he assumed power in 1982, President Habre has sought to bring about national reconciliation by winning the allegiance of Chad's disaffected groups. President Habre said that any opponents or exiles who wish to rejoin the Chadian polity can do so without fear of recrimination or punishment. Mr. Habre's own efforts at coming to grips with his opposition has been assisted by a number of African leaders, principal among them Gabon, President Omar Bongo. Largely through President Bongo's efforts, two of the chief exile opposition groups, the Chadian Democratic Front and the Coordinating Action Committee of the Democratic Revolutionary Council, made their peace with the Habre government in late 1985. In 1986, all of the rebel Commando (CODO) groups in southern Chad came in from the forests and joined forces with President Habre. Many of these CODO rebels had been regular army soldiers before and were reintegrated into the FANT. In the fall of 1986, fighters loyal to Goukouni Oueddei, President of the now-moribund GUNT, began defecting to the FANT. The trend continued into 1987, and these ex-GUNT forces played an important role in the expulsion of the Libyans from the north, particularly in the Tibesti. Oueddei, increasingly isolated, has formed yet another version of the GUNT with Tripoli's backing (March 1988). Ten high-ranking members of President Habre's present government were leading opposition figures when he took power in 1982. The primary political vehicle for the Habre government, the National Union for Independence and Revolution (UNIR) was established in June 1984. Efforts are underway to enlist members into UNIR and establish committees from the village and block level through regional committees. Structurally, UNIR is composed of a congress in which supreme authority is vested, an 80-member Central Committee, and a l5-member executive bureau. The functions and executive powers previously vested in the CCFAN were taken over by UNIR, Chad's only active national political grouping. In 1977, the OAU appointed an ad hoc committee, chaired by Gabon's President Omar Bongo, to seek a peaceful solution to the Chad/Libya conflict. Meetings at the head of state or ministerial level have been held over the years, and President Bongo has expended a great deal of effort in the search for a solution. In the late fall of 1987, the ad hoc committee called for and received documentation from both sides setting out legal claims to the Aozou Strip. The committee was putatively to make a definitive judgement on the technical merits of the two cases in the spring of 1988. President Habre's bilateral diplomatic efforts to negotiate a satisfactory end to the conflict have thus far failed. Source: U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Public Affairs, August 1988. </body> </article> </text>