Abba Siddick
Encyclopedia
Abba Siddick is a Muslim
Chad
ian politician and revolutionary born in what was the Oubangui-Chari
French colony
(today Central African Republic
). In passing in Chad (also a French colony then), he entered in active politics in the Chadian Progressive Party
(PPT), a nationalist and radical African political party founded in 1947 and led by Gabriel Lisette
. By 1958, he had left the PPT to form with others the Chadian National Union
(UNT), a Muslim progressive party, but he turned quite early to the PPT and, after the independence of Chad, was minister of Education of the President François Tombalbaye
. However the President's discrimination against Muslims in Chad brought him to become a member of the rebel insurgent group FROLINAT
, formed in 1966 to oppose the rule of Tombalbaye. After the death of the organization's first secretary-general in 1968, a vicious battle for leadership ensued, which terminated with the victory of Siddick in 1969, even though he was perceived as an Anti-Arab
and was suspected of being a moderate leftist and not having any revoultionary apprentiship. He made Tripoli
the headquarters of the front; and Libya took the place of Sudan as key supplier of the FROLINAT. While he was internationally recognized as the head of the FROLINAT, he was losing control of the units on the ground. In 1971 he tried to reassert his authority by proposing to unify the insurgent forces active in Chad, but Goukouni Oueddei
, head of the Second Liberation Army of the FROLINAT, broke with Siddick, who managed to at least keep a loose control over the First Liberation Army.
Siddick's fragile authority depended much on Libya
n support (which was official from 1971) but when in 1973 there was a reapproachment between Libya and Chad and Siddick, he was forced to move his headquarters from Tripoli to Algiers
. What nominal control was left over the troops on the ground completely vanished in 1976, when almost all his cadres rebelled against his authority and accused him of never hearing his lieutenants and of never going himself to the field of operations. The rebels, led by Mahamat Abba Saïd, assumed control over most of the First Liberation Army of the FROLINAT, that became known under his leadership simply as the First Army. Two years later, in 1978, he lost even his formal leadership of the movement when in a congress of the FROLINAT held in Faya-Largeau
Goukouni was nominated leader.
The collapse of all central authority in Chad, in 1979, gave Siddick as leader of a so-called "Original FROLINAT" (FROLINAT Originel) a chance to re-enter the fray. But he, Ahmat Acyl, Mohamat Said, and Adoum Dana were excluded from the first peace conference held at Kano
in Nigeria
in March.
When these excluded people threatened to build a counter-government, they were invited to a new peace conference at Kano, in April. In this meeting, the resolution of Hissène Habré
and Goukouni Oueddei to not let those not present at Kano I to enter in the new government failed, as Sidick, Dana, and Acyl were accused by both of not having any troops on the ground.
In retaliation, a pro-Libyan counter-government was formed by Siddick, Acyl, and Said, called Front for Joint Provisional Action (FACP), shortly after called Revolutionary Democratic Council (CDR).
This led to the first conference of Lagos
, which was boycotted by the major forces: only at the second and last peace conference at Lagos did the Transitional Government of National Unity (GUNT) finally emerge, in which all forces were represented. In the Lagos Accord
, approved on the August 21, Goukouni Oueddei became President, Habré Defence Minister, Acyl Foreign Minister and Siddick Health Minister.
Siddick at first remained with Goukouni when Habré broke with the GUNT in 1980, but when in January 1981 Goukouni and the Libyan President Qaddafi
issued a joint communiqué stating that Chad and Libya had agreed to "work for the realization of complete unity between the two countries", he and the Union pour la démocratie et la paix (UDP) tried to depose Goukouni and become independent of Libya. Shortly after this, Siddick broke with the GUNT and fled in exile to Sudan
, ceasing to play any part in the civil war.
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
Chad
Chad
Chad , officially known as the Republic of 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...
ian politician and revolutionary born in what was the Oubangui-Chari
Oubangui-Chari
Oubangui-Chari, or Ubangi-Shari, was a French territory in central Africa which later became the independent Central African Republic . French activity in the area began in 1889 with the establishment of an outpost at Bangui, now the capital of CAR. The territory was named in 1894.In 1903, French...
French colony
French colonial empires
The French colonial empire was the set of territories outside Europe that were under French rule primarily from the 17th century to the late 1960s. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the colonial empire of France was the second-largest in the world behind the British Empire. The French colonial empire...
(today Central African Republic
Central African Republic
The Central African Republic , is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It borders Chad in the north, Sudan in the north east, South Sudan in the east, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of the Congo in the south, and Cameroon in the west. The CAR covers a land area of about ,...
). In passing in Chad (also a French colony then), he entered in active politics in the Chadian Progressive Party
Chadian Progressive Party
The Chadian Progressive Party was the first African political party created in Chad, active from 1947 to 1973...
(PPT), a nationalist and radical African political party founded in 1947 and led by Gabriel Lisette
Gabriel Lisette
Gabriel Francisco Lisette was a Chadian politician that played a key-role in the decolonization of Chad.Of African descent, he was born at Portobelo in Panama on April 2, 1919. He became a French colonial administrator, and in this role was posted to Chad in 1946...
. By 1958, he had left the PPT to form with others the Chadian National Union
Chadian National Union
The Chadian National Union was a radical Muslim political party founded in 1958 in Chad by Issa Dana, Mahamut Outman and Abba Siddick. Created to lobby the NO-vote to the referendum on Chad's entry in the French Community, the party advocated drastic political reforms, to be achieved if necessary...
(UNT), a Muslim progressive party, but he turned quite early to the PPT and, after the independence of Chad, was minister of Education of the President François Tombalbaye
François Tombalbaye
François Tombalbaye, also called Ngarta Tombalbaye , was a teacher and a trade union activist who served as the first president of Chad. He was born in the southern region of the country in the Moyen-Chari Prefecture near the city of Koumara and was of the Sara ethnic group, the prominent ethnicity...
. However the President's discrimination against Muslims in Chad brought him to become a member of the rebel insurgent group FROLINAT
FROLINAT
-Origins:The organization was born as the result of a political union between the leftist Chadian National Union , led by Ibrahim Abatcha, and the General Union of the Children of Chad which was led by Ahmed Hassan Musa. Musa was close to the Muslim Brotherhood and was an Islamist...
, formed in 1966 to oppose the rule of Tombalbaye. After the death of the organization's first secretary-general in 1968, a vicious battle for leadership ensued, which terminated with the victory of Siddick in 1969, even though he was perceived as an Anti-Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
and was suspected of being a moderate leftist and not having any revoultionary apprentiship. He made Tripoli
Tripoli
Tripoli is the capital and largest city in Libya. It is also known as Western Tripoli , to distinguish it from Tripoli, Lebanon. It is affectionately called The Mermaid of the Mediterranean , describing its turquoise waters and its whitewashed buildings. Tripoli is a Greek name that means "Three...
the headquarters of the front; and Libya took the place of Sudan as key supplier of the FROLINAT. While he was internationally recognized as the head of the FROLINAT, he was losing control of the units on the ground. In 1971 he tried to reassert his authority by proposing to unify the insurgent forces active in Chad, but Goukouni Oueddei
Goukouni Oueddei
Goukouni Oueddei is a Chadian political figure. He was Head of State of Chad from 1979 to 1982. He is currently in exile.-Biography:...
, head of the Second Liberation Army of the FROLINAT, broke with Siddick, who managed to at least keep a loose control over the First Liberation Army.
Siddick's fragile authority depended much on Libya
Libya
Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....
n support (which was official from 1971) but when in 1973 there was a reapproachment between Libya and Chad and Siddick, he was forced to move his headquarters from Tripoli to Algiers
Algiers
' is the capital and largest city of Algeria. According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630. In 2009, the population was about 3,500,000...
. What nominal control was left over the troops on the ground completely vanished in 1976, when almost all his cadres rebelled against his authority and accused him of never hearing his lieutenants and of never going himself to the field of operations. The rebels, led by Mahamat Abba Saïd, assumed control over most of the First Liberation Army of the FROLINAT, that became known under his leadership simply as the First Army. Two years later, in 1978, he lost even his formal leadership of the movement when in a congress of the FROLINAT held in Faya-Largeau
Faya-Largeau
Located in the Sahara, Faya's climate is classed as hot desert on the Köppen climate classification. It experiences hot winters and very hot summers with the peak average maximum temperature reaching in May and the average minimum reaching its lowest in January at . Rainfall averages out at about...
Goukouni was nominated leader.
The collapse of all central authority in Chad, in 1979, gave Siddick as leader of a so-called "Original FROLINAT" (FROLINAT Originel) a chance to re-enter the fray. But he, Ahmat Acyl, Mohamat Said, and Adoum Dana were excluded from the first peace conference held at Kano
Kano
Kano is a city in Nigeria and the capital of Kano State in Northern Nigeria. Its metropolitan population is the second largest in Nigeria after Lagos. The Kano Urban area covers 137 sq.km and comprises six Local Government Area - Kano Municipal, Fagge, Dala, Gwale, Tarauni and Nassarawa - with a...
in Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
in March.
When these excluded people threatened to build a counter-government, they were invited to a new peace conference at Kano, in April. In this meeting, the resolution of Hissène Habré
Hissène Habré
Hissène Habré , also spelled Hissen Habré, was the leader of Chad from 1982 until he was deposed in 1990.-Early life:...
and Goukouni Oueddei to not let those not present at Kano I to enter in the new government failed, as Sidick, Dana, and Acyl were accused by both of not having any troops on the ground.
In retaliation, a pro-Libyan counter-government was formed by Siddick, Acyl, and Said, called Front for Joint Provisional Action (FACP), shortly after called Revolutionary Democratic Council (CDR).
This led to the first conference of Lagos
Lagos
Lagos is a port and the most populous conurbation in Nigeria. With a population of 7,937,932, it is currently the third most populous city in Africa after Cairo and Kinshasa, and currently estimated to be the second fastest growing city in Africa...
, which was boycotted by the major forces: only at the second and last peace conference at Lagos did the Transitional Government of National Unity (GUNT) finally emerge, in which all forces were represented. In the Lagos Accord
Lagos Accord
The Lagos Accord was a peace agreement signed on August 21, 1979 by representatives of eleven warring factions of the Chadian Civil War, after a conference in Lagos, Nigeria. The accord established the procedures for setting up the Transitional Government of National Unity , which was sworn into...
, approved on the August 21, Goukouni Oueddei became President, Habré Defence Minister, Acyl Foreign Minister and Siddick Health Minister.
Siddick at first remained with Goukouni when Habré broke with the GUNT in 1980, but when in January 1981 Goukouni and the Libyan President Qaddafi
Muammar al-Gaddafi
Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar Gaddafi or "September 1942" 20 October 2011), commonly known as Muammar Gaddafi or Colonel Gaddafi, was the official ruler of the Libyan Arab Republic from 1969 to 1977 and then the "Brother Leader" of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya from 1977 to 2011.He seized power in a...
issued a joint communiqué stating that Chad and Libya had agreed to "work for the realization of complete unity between the two countries", he and the Union pour la démocratie et la paix (UDP) tried to depose Goukouni and become independent of Libya. Shortly after this, Siddick broke with the GUNT and fled in exile to Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
, ceasing to play any part in the civil war.