21°21′16″N17°00′04″E / 21.35444°N 17.00111°E
Tibesti تيبستي | |
---|---|
Country | Chad |
Departments | 2 |
Sub-prefectures | 7 |
Region | 2008 |
Capital | Bardaï |
Population (2009) [1] | |
• Total | 25,483 |
The 2009 census figure is an official estimate. [1] |
Tibesti Region (Arabic : مقاطعة تيبستي) is a region of Chad, located in far northwest of the country. Its capital is Bardaï. It was created in 2008 when the former Borkou-Ennedi-Tibesti Region was split into three, with the Tibesti Department becoming the Tibesti Region. The region is named for the Tibesti Mountains, one of the most prominent mountain chains in the Sahara Desert. Tibesti is the least populated region of Chad, and also has the lowest GDP in the country.
The rock paintings and engravings in Tibesti bear witness to an ancient civilization from 25,000 BC. There are rock engravings in the area of Zouar, featuring, among others, cows eating fresh grass, attesting to the wet past of the Sahara.[ citation needed ] The area has historically been mainly inhabited by the Toubou people.
In 1869, Gustav Nachtigal was sent by Prussian Chancellor Otto von Bismarck to contact the Sultan of Bornu, and was the first European to travel the Tibesti region from Zouar to Bardaï. [2] Condemned by the traditional assembly of the Toubou to capital punishment for espionage, he appealed, but this was rejected. He was only released upon the intervention of Maï Arami Tetimi. Upon his return to Germany he published the book Sahara and the Sudan detailing his experiences.
The capital, Bardaï, was invaded by the Ottoman Empire in 1908, and by 1911 they had 60 men and 6 cannons in the town. [3]
The area fell under French rule during the Scramble for Africa in the late 19th century. Prior to 1931 much of the region belonged to what is now Niger as part of the French West Africa colony. [4]
in 1974, during the First Chadian Civil War, rebels led by Toubou nationalist Hissène Habré captured French archaeologist Françoise Claustre, Marc Combe (also French), an assistant to Mrs. Claustre's husband, and Christoph Staewen, a German physician. Stray bullets killed Staewen's wife. The trio were captured near Bardaï in the desert of the Tibesti Region. Combe later escaped and Staewen was released after a ransom was paid by the German government. [5] Combe would later write a book about his experiences, Otage au Tibesti. [5]
Rebels also established a radio station in Bardaï called "Voice of the Liberation of Chad", also known as Radio Free Bardaï. [6] An opposition leader, Goukouni Oueddei, established a base in the Tibesti region in the early 1980s with Libyan military backing. [7] In December, 1986, Habré attacked the Libyans in the Tibesti region around Bardaï. [8]
In the late 2000s-early 2010s gold was discovered in the region, prompting a gold rush which has brought much insecurity to the region. [9] In September 2019 about 30 people died following the collapse of an illegal gold mine in Kouri Bougoudi. [10]
An offensive from the Front for Change and Concord in Chad (FACT) rebel group began in the region on the day of the 2021 Chadian presidential election. On 20 April, President Idriss Déby was killed while visiting the frontlines of the conflict, the country's borders has been shut as a result of this. [11]
The Tibesti Region borders the Murzuq District in Libya to the north, Borkou Region to the east, and Diffa and Agadez Regions in Niger to the west. The most northerly of Chad's regions, it is sparsely populated, being part of the Sahara Desert. It contains parts of the Tibesti Mountains, and also part of the Erg of Bilma, a vast area of sand dunes in the centre of the desert. The region's northern border lies within the Aouzou Strip, historically a point of dispute between Chad and Libya. [12]
The regional capital is Bardaï; other major settlements include Aouzou, Goubonne, Wour, Zouar and Zoumri. [13]
The region had a population of 25,483 at the time of the 2009 Chadian census. [1] The main ethnolinguistic group is the Tedaga Toubou. [14]
The region of Tibesti is divided into two departments:
Department | Capital | Sub-prefectures |
---|---|---|
Tibesti Est | Bardaï | Bardaï, Zoumri, Aouzou, Yebbibou |
Tibesti Ouest | Zouar | Zouar, Wour, Goubonne |
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".
Faya-Largeau is the largest city in northern Chad and was the capital of the region of Bourkou-Ennedi-Tibesti. It is now in the Borkou Region, which was formed in 2008 from the Borkou Department of the former Bourkou-Ennedi-Tibesti region.
The Tibesti Mountains are a mountain range in the central Sahara, primarily located in the extreme north of Chad, with a small portion located in southern Libya. The highest peak in the range, Emi Koussi, lies to the south at a height of 3,415 meters (11,204 ft) and is the highest point in both Chad and the Sahara. Bikku Bitti, the highest peak in Libya, is located in the north of the range. The central third of the Tibesti is of volcanic origin and consists of five volcanoes topped by large depressions: Emi Koussi, Tarso Toon, Tarso Voon, Tarso Yega and Toussidé. Major lava flows have formed vast plateaus that overlie Paleozoic sandstone. The volcanic activity was the result of a continental hotspot that arose during the Oligocene and continued in some places until the Holocene, creating fumaroles, hot springs, mud pools and deposits of natron and sulfur. Erosion has shaped volcanic spires and carved an extensive network of canyons through which run rivers subject to highly irregular flows that are rapidly lost to the desert sands.
Daza is a Nilo-Saharan language spoken by the Daza people inhabiting northern Chad and eastern Niger. The Daza are also known as the Gouran (Gorane) in Chad. Dazaga is spoken by around 700,000 people, primarily in the Djurab Desert region and the Borkou region, locally called Haya or Faya-Largeau northern-central Chad, the capital of the Dazaga people. Dazaga is spoken in the Tibesti Mountains of Chad, in eastern Niger near N'guigmi and to the north. It is also spoken to a smaller extent in Libya and in Sudan, where there is a community of 3,000 speakers in the city of Omdurman. There's also a small diaspora community working in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
The Toubou or Tubu are an ethnic group native to the Tibesti Mountains that inhabit the central Sahara in northern Chad, southern Libya, northeastern Niger, and northwestern Sudan. They live either as herders and nomads or as farmers near oases. Their society is clan-based, with each clan having certain oases, pastures and wells.
FROLINAT was an insurgent rebel group active in Chad between 1966 and 1993.
Bardaï is a small town and oasis in the extreme north of Chad. It is the main town of the Tibesti Region, which was formed in 2008 from the Tibesti Department of the former Bourkou-Ennedi-Tibesti region.
Youssouf Togoïmi was a Chadian politician who served in the government under President Idriss Déby but subsequently led a rebel group, the Movement for Democracy and Justice in Chad (MDJT), against Déby.
Operation Épervier was the French military presence in Chad from 1986 until 2014.
The Chadian–Libyan War was a series of military campaigns in Chad between 1978 and 1987, fought between Libyan and allied Chadian forces against Chadian groups supported by France, with the occasional involvement of other foreign countries and factions.
Françoise Claustre, was a French archaeologist.
Chad achieved independence in 1960. At the time, it had no armed forces under its own flag. Since World War I, however, southern Chad, particularly the Sara ethnic group, had provided a large share of the Africans in the French army. Chadian troops also had contributed significantly to the success of the Free French Forces in World War II. In December 1940, two African battalions began the Free French military campaign against Italian forces in Libya from a base in Chad, and at the end of 1941, a force under Colonel Jacques Leclerc participated in a spectacular campaign that seized the entire Fezzan region of southern Libya. Colonel Leclerc's 3,200-man force included 2,700 Africans, the great majority of them southerners from Chad. These troops went on to contribute to the Allied victory in Tunisia. Chadians, in general, were proud of their soldiers' role in the efforts to liberate France and in the international conflict.
The Borkou region is a region of Chad which was created in 2008 from the Borkou department of the former Borkou-Ennedi-Tibesti region. Its capital is Faya-Largeau.
Ennedi Est Region is one of the twenty-three regions of Chad. The capital of the region is Am-Djarass. The region's current governor is General Hassan Djorobo.
Ennedi-Ouest Region is one of the twenty-three regions of Chad.
The Claustre Affair was a hostage crisis during the First Chadian Civil War. Chadian rebels, calling themselves the Command Council of the Armed Forces of the North (CCFAN), led by Hissène Habré kidnapped Françoise Claustre, a French archaeologist, Marc Combe, a worker in a French development organization in Chad, and Christoph Staewen, a German doctor. Although Combe escaped and Staewen was ransomed back by the West German government, the rebels demanded a ransom of 10 million francs for Mrs. Claustre and her husband Pierre, who was later also captured by the rebels. The case garnered international attention, with the French sending a negotiator who was later executed. Finally the French appealed to Muammar Gaddafi to free the hostages, which he then did. The affair showcased Libya's growing influence in Central Africa.
The Military Command Council for the Salvation of the Republic is a Chadian militant rebel group that seeks to overthrow the government of Chad. Founded in 2016, it currently operates in the border regions of northern Chad, southern Libya, eastern Niger, and western Sudan. The CCMSR has become involved in the Second Libyan Civil War, and took control of the Kouri Bougoudi area in northern Chad in 2018.
The Chad–Libya border is 1,050 km in length and runs from the tripoint with Niger in the west, to the tripoint with Sudan in the east.
The Northern Chad offensive was a military offensive in Northern Chad, initiated by the Chadian rebel group Front for Change and Concord in Chad (FACT), took place from 11 April to 9 May 2021. It began in the Tibesti Region in the north of the country following the 2021 Chadian presidential election.