Battle of N'Djamena (2006)

Last updated

Battle of N'Djamena
Part of Chadian Civil War (2005–2010)
Date13 April 2006
Location
N'Djamena, Chad
Result Chadian military victory
Belligerents
United Front for Democratic Change Flag of Chad.svg Military of Chad
Commanders and leaders
Mohammed Nour Abdelkerim
Abdelwahid Aboud Mackaye 		Flag of Chad.svg Idriss Déby
Casualties and losses
370 killed [1]
271 captured [1] 		30 killed [1]
Unknown number of civilians killed, 387 injured on both sides [1]

The Battle of N'Djamena took place between the forces of the revolutionary United Front for Democratic Change (UFCD) and the military of Chad that occurred on 13 April 2006 when rebel forces launched an assault on the capital of Chad in the pre-dawn hours, attempting to overthrow the government of President Idriss Déby Itno from their bases an estimated thousand miles east.

Contents

The battle occurred just months after serious Chad-Sudan tensions ended with the signing of the Tripoli Agreement. Déby broke off relations with the government of Sudan as a result, expelling its diplomats and threatened to stop sheltering thousands of Sudanese refugees from the Darfur region. [2] The government of Sudan has been documented by the United Nations to have engaged in mass murder of approximately 100,000 non-Arab civilians in Darfur in the period 2003–2006. [3]

The battle

The rebels attempted to seize the National Assembly building, but the assault was easily repulsed by the much more heavily armed Chadian government forces. At least 400 people, including 370 rebels, 30 government forces and some civilians, were killed in the fighting. 271 rebels were captured and paraded through the Place d'Independance the next day.

Reactions

Chad

President Déby blamed the attack on the government of neighboring Sudan, claiming that many of the attackers were either Sudanese backed by their government or residents of Chad conscripted by the Sudanese. Subsequently, he threatened to expel 200,000 Sudanese refugees sheltering in the east of the country after repeating accusations that Sudan supports rebels who launched a new offensive to oust him. Déby backed away from this threat on 17 April 2006. [4]

Déby repeatedly has accused Sudan of hiring mercenaries to overthrow his government. Sudan has denied the accusation, and in turn has accused Chad of supporting fighters in its volatile Darfur region, where Arab militias and African rebels have fought for nearly three years.

Déby claimed that the rebel attack was designed to encourage a constitutional vacuum leading to civil war, by disrupting the forthcoming May 3 presidential election, an election in which President Déby, who had been Chad's leader for sixteen years, successfully ran for a third term. [5]

Déby dismissed the rebels as "petty mercenaries" and described the attack as "amateurish", saying that he was "not going anywhere". According to Déby, on the morning of the rebel attack, he "knew they were coming", and he and his wife Hinda were "listening to the cannon fire" while "[taking] our breakfast of strong coffee and warm croissant." [6]

Other

The actions of the rebel forces were condemned by the United Nations Security Council. Secretary General Kofi Annan was quoted as saying he was "greatly troubled by the worsening security situation in Chad". [7]

The Central African Republic closed off its border with Sudan on 14 April saying that the rebels had crossed into its territory on their way to N'Djamena. [8]

Related Research Articles

Chad, officially the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It borders Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon and Nigeria to the southwest, and Niger to the west. Due to its distance from the sea and its largely desert climate, the country is sometimes referred to as the "Dead Heart of Africa".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Idriss Déby</span> 6th President of Chad from 1990 to 2021

Idriss Déby Itno was a Chadian politician and military officer who was the 6th president of Chad from 1991 until his death in 2021 during the Northern Chad offensive. His term of office of more than 30 years makes him Chad's longest-serving president.

Adré is the main town of the Assoungha department in the Ouaddaï Region of Chad. It is located very close to Chad's eastern border with Sudan, 400m away. The town is served by Adré Airport.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chadian Civil War (2005–2010)</span> Ethno-religious conflict

The Chadian Civil War of 2005–2010 began on December 18, 2005. Since its independence from France in 1960, Chad has been swamped by civil wars between the Arab-Muslims of the north and the Sub-Saharan-Christians of the south. As a result, leadership and presidency in Chad drifted back and forth between the Christian southerners and Muslim northerners. When one side was in power, the other side usually started a revolutionary war to counter it.

The United Front for Democratic Change was a Chadian rebel alliance, made up of eight individual rebel groups, all with the goals of overthrowing the government of Chadian president Idriss Déby. It is now part of the Union of Forces for Democracy and Development. UFDC was founded between 26–28 December 2005 in Modeina in eastern Chad. FUC's "president" is Mahamat Nour Abdelkerim, the former leader of the Rally for Democracy and Liberty rebel group, "first vice president" Hassan Salleh Algadam, "second vice president" Abakar Tollimi, and "secretary-general" Abdelwahit About. On 18 December the RDL and another allied rebel group, Platform for Change, Unity and Democracy, attacked the city of Adré. The attack was repulsed by the Chadian military, and the Chadian government accused the Sudanese government of supporting the rebels, which Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir denies. Chad declared a "state of belligerance" with Sudan on 23 December 2005, resulting in the Chad-Sudan Conflict. The result was the Tripoli Agreement.

Abdelwahid Aboud Mackaye is a Chadian insurgent leader involved in the war to topple the Chadian President Idriss Déby. Originally a fighter in the Democratic Revolutionary Council (CDR) militia during the first Chadian Civil War, under Déby he became a civil servant before defecting to the rebels in 2003. After having been for a time first in the FUC and later in the UFDD, he has founded in 2007 the UFDD-Fundamental, which has participated in February 2008 to the unsuccessful attack on N'Djamena.

The Tripoli Agreement was signed on February 8, 2006, by Chadian President Idriss Déby, Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, and Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, effectively ending the Chadian–Sudanese conflict that has devastated border towns in eastern Chad and the Darfur region of western Sudan since December 2005.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2006 Chadian coup attempt</span> 2006 coup attempt in Chad

The 2006 Chadian coup d'état attempt was an attempted coup d'état against Chadian President Idriss Déby that was foiled on the night of March 14, 2006.

Operation Épervier was the French military presence in Chad from 1986 until 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">War in Darfur</span> Genocidal conflict in Southwestern Sudan

The War in Darfur, also nicknamed the Land Cruiser War, was a major armed conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan that began in February 2003 when the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) rebel groups began fighting against the government of Sudan, which they accused of oppressing Darfur's non-Arab population. The government responded to attacks by carrying out a campaign of ethnic cleansing against Darfur's non-Arabs. This resulted in the death of hundreds of thousands of civilians and the indictment of Sudan's president, Omar al-Bashir, for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2004 Chadian coup attempt</span> 2004 coup attempt in Chad

The 2004 Chadian coup d'état attempt was an attempted coup d'état against the Chadian President Idriss Déby that was foiled on the night of May 16, 2004.

Events from the year 2007 in Chad.

General Mahamat Nouri is a Chadian insurgent leader who currently commands the Union of Forces for Democracy and Development (UFDD). A Muslim from northern Chad, he began his career as a FROLINAT rebel, and when the group's Second Army split in 1976 he sided with his kinsman Hissène Habré. As Habré's associate he obtained in 1978 the first of the many ministerial positions in his career, becoming Interior Minister in a coalition government. When Habré reached the presidency in 1982, Nouri was by his side and played an important role in the regime.

General Salah Abdallah "Gosh" is the former national security advisor of the Republic of the Sudan. Prior to this position, he was the director of the National Intelligence and Security Service. He currently holds the rank of army general. Salah Gosh was reinstated to his former position as the Director General of NISS on 11 February 2018 by President Omar al-Bashir. On 13 April 2019, he resigned from his post, which was confirmed to Sudanese TV by the ruling Transitional Military Council.

The Battle of N'Djamena began on February 2, 2008, when Chadian rebel forces opposed to Chadian President Idriss Déby entered N'Djamena, the capital of Chad, after a three-day advance through the country. The rebels were initially successful, taking a large part of the city and attacking the heavily defended presidential palace. They did not capture the palace, and after two days of fighting they withdrew to outside the city. Around two days later they retreated east.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chad–Sudan relations</span> Bilateral relations

The populations of eastern Chad and western Sudan established social and religious ties long before either nation's independence, and these remained strong despite disputes between governments. In recent times, relations have been strained due to the conflict in Darfur and a civil war in Chad, which both governments accuse the other of supporting.

The following details notable events from the year 2008 in Chad. Chad is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon and Nigeria to the southwest, and Niger to the west.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2008 Omdurman attack</span>

In May 2008, the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), a Darfur ethnic minority rebel group, undertook a raid against the Sudanese government in the cities of Omdurman and Khartoum.

The following lists events that happened during 2006 in Sudan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Insurgency in Chad (2016–present)</span> Ongoing war in Chad

In 2016, the Front for Change and Concord in Chad (FACT) and the Military Command Council for the Salvation of the Republic (CCMSR) began a rebellion against the Chadian government. From their rear bases in southern Libya, FACT and CCMSR have launched offensives and raids into Northern Chad seeking to overthrow the government of former president Idriss Déby, who had been in power since a December 1990 coup. Other rebel groups are also involved in the insurgency, though to a lesser extent.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Chad breaks off relations with Sudan, says uprising crushed". Archived from the original on 12 September 2006. Retrieved 10 May 2009.
  2. ↑ England, Andrew (15 April 2006). "Chad severs ties with Sudan". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 6 May 2015. Retrieved 15 April 2006.
  3. ↑ Report of the International Commission of Inquiry on Darfur to the United Nations Secretary-General, International Commission of Inquiry, 18 September 2004
  4. ↑ "Chad reassures UN, no expulsion of Darfur refugees". Sudan Tribune. 17 April 2006. Archived from the original on 21 November 2006. Retrieved 19 April 2006.
  5. ↑ Flynn, Daniel (18 April 2006). "Chad's leader accuses Sudan of waging war". The Scotsman.
  6. ↑ Emily Wax, "New First Lady Captivates Chad", The Washington Post, 2 May 2006, page A17.
  7. ↑ Various writers (14 April 2006). "UN condemns rebel attack in Chad". The Age.
  8. ↑ Lacey, Marc (15 April 2006). "After Battle in Capital, Chad Threatens to Expel Sudanese". The New York Times.

12°06′59″N15°04′20″E / 12.1164°N 15.0722°E / 12.1164; 15.0722

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.