Chad achieved independence in 1960.[1] At the time, it had no armed forces under its own flag.[1] Since World War I, however, southern Chad, particularly the Sara ethnic group, had provided a large share of the Africans in the French army.[1] Chadian troops also had contributed significantly to the success of the Free French Forces in World War II.[1] 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.[1] Colonel Leclerc's 3,200-man force included 2,700 Africans, the great majority of them southerners from Chad.[1] These troops went on to contribute to the Allied victory in Tunisia.[1] Chadians, in general, were proud of their soldiers' role in the efforts to liberate France and in the international conflict.[1]
The military involvement also provided the country's first taste of relative prosperity.[1] In addition to the wages paid its forces, Chad received economic benefits from three years of use as a major route for Allied supply convoys and flights to North Africa and Egypt.[1] By 1948 about 15,000 men in French Equatorial Africa (Afrique Equatoriale Française, AEF) were receiving military pensions.[1] Many Chadian southerners, finding military life attractive, had remained in the French army, often becoming noncommissioned officers (NCOs); a few had earned commissions as well.[1] The French wars in Indochina (1946–53; seeFirst Indochina War) and Algeria (1954–62; seeAlgerian War) also drew on Chadians in great numbers, enlarging the veteran population still further.[1] Those men receiving pensions tended to form the economic elite in their villages.[1] As southerners, they did not become involved in later insurgent movements that developed in central and northern Chad.[1]
Early years
Prior to independence, the French forces had been reorganized to redeploy some of the Chadian troops assigned to other African territories back into Chad.[1] Following independence, Chad's army was created from southern troops that had served with the French army.[1] Initially, the army was limited to 400 men, some Chadian officers and many French commissioned officers and NCOs..[1] Other soldiers were transferred into a larger paramilitary security force, the National Gendarmerie.[1] Equipped with light arms and other supplies, the army used facilities inherited from the French units that it had replaced.[1]
Because the French army units in Chad provided security, a large indigenous force was unnecessary.[1] Accordingly, the Chadian army was deliberately restricted in size.[1] By 1966, however, the departure of the French administration from sparsely populated Borkou-Ennedi-Tibesti Prefecture in the north encouraged dissident forces in the central prefectures to rebel.[1] In response, the government expanded its armed strength to a 700-man infantry battalion with supporting light artillery and also activated an air unit.[1]
The continued insurgency necessitated the further enlargement of the army, to a total of 3,800 men by 1971.[1] The army formed a paratroop company from 350 Chadians trained by Israeli instructors at a base in Zaire.[1] In addition to strengthening the regular army, the government increased mobile security companies of the National Gendarmerie, equipped as light infantry, to a strength of more than 1,600 men.[1] A third force, the National Guard (later known as the National and Nomad Guard), which had at least 3,501 members, provided security for officials, government buildings, and regional government posts.[1]
Except for the small number of nomad guards, the army and other security components continued to be composed primarily of members from southern ethnic groups, especially Sara.[1] Little effort was made to enlist northerners, who, in spite of their reputation as fierce warriors, were not attracted to the professional army.[1] Consequently, southern troops stationed in Borkou-Ennedi-Tibesti Prefecture were looked upon as an army of occupation.[1] They imposed humiliating restrictions in the northern settlements, and their abusive behavior was a source of bitterness.[2]
Military under Hissène Habré
The growing unpopularity of the country's first president, François Tombalbaye, impelled him to strengthen further the internal security forces and to employ a unit of Moroccan troops as his personal bodyguard.[1] During the early 1970s, Tombalbaye doubled the size of the National and Nomad Guard and augmented the National Gendarmerie considerably.[1] At the same time, he neglected and downgraded FAT, which the force interpreted as a lack of trust.[1] These actions ultimately contributed to the decision by a small group of officers to carry out a coup in 1975 that resulted in Tombalbaye's death and a new government under Félix Malloum's presidency.[1]
Malloum's military regime insisted on the departure of the French troops.[1] FAT, however, found itself increasingly unable to cope with the insurgency in the north, and, as a consequence, Malloum was obliged to invite the French back in 1978.[1] As part of an effort at conciliation with one of the rebel factions, Habré was brought into the government.[1] Habré rejected, however, the plan to integrate his FAN troops into the army, and his force soon demonstrated its superior resolution and strength by expelling Malloum's army from N'Djamena.[3]
By the late 1980s, Chad's national security establishment was a conglomeration of former rebel armies under the command of Habré, whose troops were mostly from the north.[1] The evolution of the national security establishment from an army of mostly southerners was rapid.[1] This change occurred between April 1975, when Malloum assumed power, and early 1979, when the combined northern forces of Habré and Goukouni drove the southern-dominated FAT from N'Djamena.[1]
Internecine conflict in the late 1970s and early 1980s, however, prevented Chad from achieving political or military unity.[1] Erstwhile comrades Habré and Goukouni became bitter adversaries, and, with Libyan backing, Goukouni evicted Habré from the capital in 1980.[1] Although forced to flee, Habré had fought his way back to N'Djamena by mid-1982.[1] His occupation of the city was followed by victories in the south against his divided opponents).[1] With most regions of the country now under his authority, Habré assumed the presidency, promulgated a provisional constitution, the Fundamental Law of 1982, and introduced a cabinet and other institutions broadly representative of the existing political forces.[4]
The Fundamental Law, which remained in effect as of 1988, declares that the president is the supreme commander of the army and is authorized to appoint high-ranking military officers, such appointments to be subject to implementing decrees approved by the Council of Ministers (presidential cabinet).[1] Article 21 of the Fundamental Law states that "under the authority of the President of the Republic, the Chief of State, and the government, the national army has the task of defending the national independence and unity, sovereignty, territorial integrity, the security of the country, and its preservation from subversion and any aggression.[1] The army participates in the work of national reconstruction.[1]
Habré, who had personally commanded the major element of the northern forces during most of the Chadian Civil War, retained the title of supreme commander and a large measure of control over the military establishment.[1] In addition to his positions as president and supreme commander, Habré had assumed the ministerial portfolio of national defense, veterans, and war victims.[1] In a practical sense, however, in 1988 the Ministry of National Defense, Veterans, and War Victims was not a fully staffed government department independent of the military command structure.[1]
At the head of the military chain of command in 1988 was Hassane Djamouss, the commander in chief of FANT and the battlefield commander during the succession of military victories over Libya.[1] His senior deputy with responsibility for administration and logistics was Zamtato Ganebang.[1] The second deputy, Adoum Yacoub, formerly commander of the People's Armed Forces (Forces Armées Populaires, FAP), a rebel army in the north, was responsible for tactics and operations.[1] Another former rebel leader, Oki Dagache Yaya, was the senior representative of the FAP units that had been integrated into FANT.[1]
The creation of a five-member military cabinet attached to the presidency, on which several of the ethnic groups composing FANT were represented, was one of the measures adopted by Habré to provide a governmental role for his former opponents.[5] The extent to which Habré relied on its advice on matters of the military policy was not certain; some observers believe that Habré's former adversaries had been given symbolic positions having no real influence.[1] The headquarters staff of FANT totaled about twenty officers and was composed of a number of bureaus patterned after those of the French military.[1] Included were personnel (B-1), intelligence (B-2), operations (B-3), logistics (B-4), and communications (B-5).[1] Other bureaus were tactics and recruitment.[1] French advisers were detailed to all but the intelligence bureau.[1]
The Presidential Guard (Sécurité Presidentielle, SP) was responsible for the personal security of the president and performed other internal security duties as well.[1] Although the Presidential Guard participated in combat missions, it functioned as an independent wing of the armed forces.[1] The Presidential Guard depended on FANT headquarters for administration and was officially part of FANT's structure, but it operated as a separate army, often in semisecrecy.[1] Dominated by soldiers of Habré's ethnic group, the Daza, it enjoyed many privileges and was assigned the most modern transportation equipment and weaponry.[1] In 1987 the 3,600-man force was commanded by Ahmed Gorou.[1]
Except for the north, which had been organized into a separate military region, the country was divided into twelve military zones, each with headquarters in a major town.[1] The senior officer, generally a major of the Presidential Guard, held command responsibility for any military units within his designated zone.[1] Subzones were located in smaller communities, usually under a lieutenant.[1]
Military under Idriss Déby
Eland 90 armoured car of the Chadian Army. President Déby purchased a number of these vehicles from a Belgian firm in 2008.
The Military of Chad was dominated by members of Toubou, Zaghawa, Kanembou, Hadjerai, and Massa ethnic groups during the presidency of Hissène Habré. Current Chadian president Idriss Déby, a member of the minority Zaghawa-related Bidyate clan and a top military commander, revolted and fled to Sudan, taking with him many Zaghawa and Hadjerai soldiers in 1989. The forces that Déby led into N'Djamena on December 1, 1990, to oust President Habré, was mainly Zaghawa, including a large number of Sudanese, many of whom were recruited while Déby was in the bush. Déby's coalition also included a small number of Hadjerais and southerners.
Chad's armed forces numbered about 36,000 at the end of the Habré regime, but swelled to an estimated 50,000 in the early days of Déby's rule. With French support, a reorganization of the armed forces was initiated early in 1991 with the goal of reducing the armed forces to 25,000. An essential element of this effort was to make the ethnic composition of the armed forces reflective of the country as a whole. Neither of these goals was achieved. The military still numbers at least 30,000 men and is dominated by the Zaghawa.
War and rebellion continue to plague Chad. Following Déby's rise to power, Habré loyalists continued to fight government troops and rob civilians around Lake Chad. There were numerous small rebellions in eastern Chad, even among the Zaghawa. In the mid- and late-1990s, a rebellion in the south by the FARF delayed the promised petrol development until it was crushed by government forces. Most recently, Youssouf Togoimi and his Movement for Democracy and Justice in Chad (MDJT) were the most serious threat to Déby's power. Since 1998, government and rebel forces have fought with little progress on either side. In January 2002, the government and the MDJT signed a formal peace accord.
In 2004, the government discovered that many of the soldiers it was paying did not exist and that some officers were taking these salaries for themselves; it furthermore determined that there were only about 19,000 soldiers in the army, as opposed to the 24,000 that had been previously believed. Government crackdowns against the practice are thought to have been a factor in a failed military mutiny in May 2004.[6]
The Chad National Army dislodged Military Command Council for the Salvation of the Republic rebels from the town of Miski, near the border with Libya.[7]
In 2003, Chad become an oil producer, and plans on how to spend oil revenues were created with the help of World Bank. According to this plan, 80% of revenues would go into development sectors such as education and healthcare, however money was diverted towards military spending from the beginning. Chad ripped the original plan after a civil war started, which allowed it to add "national security" in top priorities, most of this money went into the military. During the civil war Chad spent estimated 600 million dollars on buying new military equipment.[8]
In 2013, Chad sent 2000 troops to join Operation Serval. Later in the same year Chad sent 850 soldiers to MISCA, those were withdrawn in April 2014 after alleged human rights abuses.[9]
In January 2015, Chad started sending troops to its neighbors to help fight against Boko Haram.[10]
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".
The Chad National Army consists of the five Defence and Security Forces listed in Article 185 of the Chadian Constitution that came into effect on 4 May 2018. These are the National Army, the National Police, the National and Nomadic Guard (GNNT) and the Judicial Police. Article 188 of the Constitution specifies that National Defence is the responsibility of the Army, Gendarmerie and GNNT, whilst the maintenance of public order and security is the responsibility of the Police, Gendarmerie and GNNT.
Hissène Habré, also spelled Hissen Habré, was a Chadian politician and convicted war criminal who served as the 5th president of Chad from 1982 until he was deposed in 1990.
Idriss Déby Itno was a Chadian politician, military officer, and head of the ruling Patriotic Salvation Movement, who was the president of Chad from 1990 until his death at the hands of militant forces when commanding troops on the front in 2021.
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 earliest presence of Islam in Chad can be traced back to Uqba ibn Nafi, whose descendants can be found settled in the Lake Chad region to this day. By the time Arab migrants began arriving from the east in the fourteenth century in sizeable numbers, the creed was already well established. Islamization in Chad was gradual, the effect of the slow spread of Islamic civilization beyond its political frontiers. Among Chadian Muslims, 48% professed to be Sunni, 21% Shia, 23% just Muslim and 4% Other.
FROLINAT was an insurgent rebel group active in Chad between 1966 and 1993.
Wadel Abdelkader Kamougué was a Chadian politician and army officer. Kamougué was a leading figure in the 1975 coup d'état and subsequently held several positions in the Chadian government and legislature. He was Vice President of Chad from 1979 to 1982 and President of the National Assembly from 1997 to 2002. Kamougué was also President of the Union for Renewal and Democracy (URD) political party, and he was appointed as Minister of National Defense in April 2008.
The 1975 coup d'état in Chad that terminated Tombalbaye's government received an enthusiastic response in the capital N'Djamena. Félix Malloum emerged as the chairman of the new Supreme Military Council, and the first days of the new regime were celebrated as many political prisoners were released. His government included more Muslims from northern and eastern Chad, but ethnic and regional dominance still remained very much in the hands of southerners.
The Transitional Government of National Unity was the coalition government of armed groups that nominally ruled Chad from 1979 to 1982, during the most chaotic phase of the long-running civil war that began in 1965. The GUNT replaced the fragile alliance led by Félix Malloum and Hissène Habré, which collapsed in February 1979. GUNT was characterized by intense rivalries that led to armed confrontations and Libyan intervention in 1980. Libya intervened in support of the GUNT's President Goukouni Oueddei, against the former GUNT Defence Minister Hissène Habré.
The Chadian National Armed Forces was the army of the central government of Chad from January 1983, when the President Hissène Habré's forces, in first place his personal Armed Forces of the North (FAN), were merged. Consisting of about 10,000 soldiers at that time, it swelled with the assimilation of former Chadian Armed Forces (FAT) and codos rebels from the south and, in 1986, with the addition of Transitional Government of National Unity (GUNT) soldiers who had turned against their Libyan allies. Freshly outfitted by France and the United States, FANT drove Libyan troops from their bases in northern Chad in a series of victories in 1987, during the Toyota War; but it dissolved defeated by the Patriotic Salvation Movement (MPS) led by Idriss Déby, who conquered the capital N'Djamena on December 2, 1990.
The Chadian–Libyan conflict 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. Libya had been involved in Chad's internal affairs prior to 1978 and before Muammar Gaddafi's rise to power in Libya in 1969, beginning with the extension of the Chadian Civil War to northern Chad in 1968. The conflict was marked by a series of four separate Libyan interventions in Chad, taking place in 1978, 1979, 1980–1981 and 1983–1987. In all of these occasions Gaddafi had the support of a number of factions participating in the civil war, while Libya's opponents found the support of the French government, which intervened militarily to support the Chadian government in 1978, 1983 and 1986.
Operation Manta was a French military intervention in Chad between 1983 and 1984, during the Chadian–Libyan conflict. The operation was prompted by the invasion of Chad by a joint force of Libyan units and Chadian Transitional Government of National Unity (GUNT) rebels in June 1983. While France was at first reluctant to participate, the Libyan air-bombing of the strategic oasis of Faya-Largeau starting on July 31 led to the assembling in Chad of 3,500 French troops, the biggest French intervention since the end of the colonial era.
Abbas Koty Yacoub was a Chadian political figure and rebel leader.
late 1980s, the only mineral exploited in Chad was sodium carbonate, or natron. Also called sal soda or washing soda, natron was used as a salt for medicinal purposes, as a preservative for hides, and as an ingredient in the traditional manufacture of soap; herders also fed it to their animals. Natron deposits were located around the shore of Lake Chad and the wadis of Kanem Prefecture, and near the oasis of Faya-Largeau.
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.
Chad is a country in Africa bordering Libya. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is the main intelligence agency of the United States of America. The CIA was active in Chad in the 1980s, due to what the US perceived as a strategic interest in limiting the power of its opponent Muammar Gaddafi, who had ruled Libya since 1969.
The Chadian Civil War of 1965–1979 was waged by several rebel factions against two Chadian governments. The initial rebellion erupted in opposition to Chadian President François Tombalbaye, whose regime was marked by authoritarianism, extreme corruption, and favoritism. In 1975 Tombalbaye was murdered by his own army, and a military government headed by Félix Malloum emerged and continued the war against the insurgents. Following foreign interventions by Libya and France, the fracturing of the rebels into rival factions, and an escalation of the fighting, Malloum stepped down in March 1979. This paved the way for a new national government, known as "Transitional Government of National Unity" (GUNT).
The 1990 Chadian coup d'état took place on 3 December 1990 when the forces of the Patriotic Salvation Movement (MPS), a Libyan–backed rebel group under the leadership of General Idriss Déby, entered the Chadian capital N'Djamena unopposed. The MPS troops entered Chad by crossing the Sudanese border three weeks earlier.
Judith Scheele is a social anthropologist, who works in the Sahara. Scheele is based at the EHESS, France.
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