Lol Mohamed Shawa
Encyclopedia
Lol Mahamat Choua is a Chad
ian politician who served as his country's Head of State
for four months in 1979. He is the President of the Rally for Democracy and Progress
(RDP) political party.
An adherent of Islam
and a member of the Kanembu
ethnic group, Choua came into power during the Chadian Civil War
. The Popular Movement for the Liberation of Chad
(MPLT), a Kanembu rebel group backed by Nigeria
, along with the central government, the Armed Forces of the North
(FAN) and the People's Armed Forces
(FAP) were the main combatants. When a peace conference was organized in Kano
, Nigeria, the MPLT, which suffered from a lack of members, chose Lol to head its delegation to meeting.
Under Nigerian pressure, Lol was made head of the Transitional Government of National Unity on April 29, 1979, by the four factions present at Kano I. The GUNT included 21 ministers, of whom 11 were northerners and 10 were southerners. Goukouni Oueddei
, head of the FAP, became Interior Minister, Hissène Habré
became Defence Minister, and Wadel Abdelkader Kamougué
, leader of the Chadian Armed Forces
(FAT), became vice-president. But the transitional government excluded all the pro-Libya
n forces; as a result, a rival government, backed by Muammar al-Gaddafi
, was formed; it was called the Democratic Revolutionary Council
, and it was headed by Ahmat Acyl, an Arab.
The problem of the rival government, and the transitional government's resistance to Nigerian influence, led to two new peace conferences, this time in Lagos
, Nigeria
. On August 21, an agreement between all factions, those of the CDR included, was signed; it became known as the Lagos Accord
. The accord brought to the replacement of Choua with Goukouni as head of the transitional government, an act that was accomplished on September 3.
Lol served as minister in his Habré's government, starting in 1982. Idriss Déby
overthrew Habré in 1990, and when he legalized opposition parties in 1992, one of them was Lol's Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP), based mainly in Kanem Region
. From January 15, 1993 to April 7, 1993, the Sovereign National Conference, which initiated the transition to multiparty elections, was held. Among the decisions of the conference was to form a transitional legislative body, the Higher Transitional Council (Conseil supérieur de la transition, or CST), composed of 57 members, which had Choua as its president. Choua served as President of the CST until he came into conflict with Déby, and as a result the CST replaced him with Mahamat Bachir, a loyalist of Déby's Patriotic Salvation Movement
(MPS), on October 15, 1994.
In June 1996, the first multiparty presidential election
in Chad's history were held. Choua placed fifth, taking 5.93% of the vote, while Déby won in the second round, held in July. He was elected to the National Assembly
as an RDP candidate in the first round of the 1997 parliamentary election
.
In the 2001 presidential election
, the RDP supported Déby, and the party, in alliance with Déby's Patriotic Salvation Movement
(MPS), won 12 seats (out of 155) in the April 2002 parliamentary election
. Choua himself was re-elected to the National Assembly as an RDP candidate from Mao
constituency in Kanem Department
. Choua is the President of the RDP Parliamentary Group in the National Assembly. In 2005, during the constitutional referendum
on the elimination of presidential term limits, Lol and his party boycotted the vote.
Following an August 2007 agreement between political parties on preparations for a new parliamentary election in 2009
, Choua headed a committee overseeing the implementation of the agreement.
According to the RDP, on February 3, 2008, during a battle between government forces and rebels
for control of N'Djamena
, Choua was arrested by members of the presidential guard, who "acted with incredible brutality", and taken away in the back of a truck. Following international expressions of concern regarding the fate of Choua and two other opposition politicians (Ibni Oumar Mahamat Saleh
and Ngarlejy Yorongar
) who were also reportedly arrested, Interior Minister Ahmat Mahamat Bachir said on February 14 that Choua had been "found" and that he was still alive. Also on February 14, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the French ambassador to Chad had been allowed to visit Choua, who was being held in a military prison. On February 16, Minister of Communications Hourmadji Moussa Doumgor said that Choua was being held with prisoners of war. Foreign Minister Ahmad Allam-Mi
said on February 22 that Choua had been found working with the rebels in flagrant délit and was being held for investigation. The RDP sharply denounced this claim.
On February 26, the government announced that Choua was being placed under house arrest.
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 who served as his country's Head of State
Heads of state of Chad
-List of Heads of State of Chad:-Affiliations:-External links:**...
for four months in 1979. He is the President of the Rally for Democracy and Progress
Rally for Democracy and Progress (Chad)
The Rally for Democracy and Progress is a political party in Chad, led by Lol Mahamat Choua.The party was founded by Choua in December 1991 and was among the first batch of political parties to be legalized in March 1992....
(RDP) political party.
An adherent of Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
and a member of the Kanembu
Kanembu people
The Kanembu are an ethnic group of Chad, generally considered the modern descendants of the Kanem-Borno Empire. The Kanembu number an estimated 655,000 people, located primarily in Chad's Lac Prefecture but also in Chari-Baguirmi and Kanem prefectures. They speak the Kanembu language, a variant...
ethnic group, Choua came into power during the Chadian Civil War
Chadian Civil War
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,...
. The Popular Movement for the Liberation of Chad
Popular Movement for the Liberation of Chad
The Popular Movement for the Liberation of Chad was a small rebel group active in Chad during the civil war....
(MPLT), a Kanembu rebel group backed by 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...
, along with the central government, the Armed Forces of the North
Armed Forces of the North
The Armed Forces of the North was a Chadian rebel army active during the Chadian Civil War. Composed of FROLINAT units that remained loyal to Hissène Habré following his break from Goukouni Oueddei and the CCFAN in 1976...
(FAN) and the People's Armed Forces
People's Armed Forces
The People's Armed Forces was a Chadian insurgent group composed of followers of Goukouni Oueddei after the schism with Hissène Habré in 1976...
(FAP) were the main combatants. When a peace conference was organized in 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...
, Nigeria, the MPLT, which suffered from a lack of members, chose Lol to head its delegation to meeting.
Under Nigerian pressure, Lol was made head of the Transitional Government of National Unity on April 29, 1979, by the four factions present at Kano I. The GUNT included 21 ministers, of whom 11 were northerners and 10 were southerners. 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 FAP, became Interior Minister, 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:...
became Defence Minister, and Wadel Abdelkader Kamougué
Wadel Abdelkader Kamougué
Wadel Abdelkader Kamougué was a Chadian politician and former army officer. Kamougué was a leading figure in the 1975 coup d'état and since then he has held several positions in the Chadian government and legislature. He was Vice-President from 1979 to 1982 and was President of the National...
, leader of the Chadian Armed Forces
Chadian Armed Forces
The Chadian Armed Forces were the army of the central government of Chad from 1960 to 1979, under the southern presidents François Tombalbaye and Félix Malloum, until the downfall of the latter in 1979, when the head of the gendarmerie, Wadel Abdelkader Kamougué, assumed command...
(FAT), became vice-president. But the transitional government excluded all the pro-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 forces; as a result, a rival government, backed by Muammar al-Gaddafi
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...
, was formed; it was called the Democratic Revolutionary Council
Democratic Revolutionary Council
The Democratic Revolutionary Council was a faction of FROLINAT founded by Ahmat Acyl and later headed by Acheikh ibn Oumar and was also known as the New Vulcan Army....
, and it was headed by Ahmat Acyl, an Arab.
The problem of the rival government, and the transitional government's resistance to Nigerian influence, led to two new peace conferences, this time in 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...
, 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...
. On August 21, an agreement between all factions, those of the CDR included, was signed; it became known as 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...
. The accord brought to the replacement of Choua with Goukouni as head of the transitional government, an act that was accomplished on September 3.
Lol served as minister in his Habré's government, starting in 1982. Idriss Déby
Idriss Déby
General Idriss Déby Itno is the President of Chad and the head of the Patriotic Salvation Movement. Déby is of the Bidyat clan of the Zaghawa ethnic group. He added "Itno" to his surname in January 2006.-Rise to power:...
overthrew Habré in 1990, and when he legalized opposition parties in 1992, one of them was Lol's Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP), based mainly in Kanem Region
Kanem Region
Kanem is one of the 22 regions of Chad, corresponding to the former prefecture of Kanem. Its capital is Mao. It is named after the famous Kanem Empire, which was centered in this vicinity.The region of Kanem is divided into 3 departments:-Demography:...
. From January 15, 1993 to April 7, 1993, the Sovereign National Conference, which initiated the transition to multiparty elections, was held. Among the decisions of the conference was to form a transitional legislative body, the Higher Transitional Council (Conseil supérieur de la transition, or CST), composed of 57 members, which had Choua as its president. Choua served as President of the CST until he came into conflict with Déby, and as a result the CST replaced him with Mahamat Bachir, a loyalist of Déby's Patriotic Salvation Movement
Patriotic Salvation Movement
The Patriotic Salvation Movement is the ruling political party in Chad.After Idriss Déby, an army commander who participated in an unsuccessful plot against President Hissène Habré in 1989, fled to Sudan, he and his supporters, known as the April 1 Movement, operated from Sudan with Libyan backing...
(MPS), on October 15, 1994.
In June 1996, the first multiparty presidential election
Chadian presidential election, 1996
Presidential election were held in Chad on 2 June 1996, with a second round on 3 July. This was the first multiparty presidential election in the history of Chad since its independence. It occurred at the end of a long transitional process and was repeatedly delayed...
in Chad's history were held. Choua placed fifth, taking 5.93% of the vote, while Déby won in the second round, held in July. He was elected to the National Assembly
National Assembly of Chad
The National Assembly is the parliament of Chad. It has 155 members, elected for a four year term in 25 single-member constituencies and 34 multi-member constituencies.-See also:*List of Presidents of the National Assembly of Chad...
as an RDP candidate in the first round of the 1997 parliamentary election
Chadian parliamentary election, 1997
Parliamentary elections were held in Chad in 1997, the first multi-party election since independence in 1960. The voting system was similar to that of France, using runoff voting, with two separate rounds of voting, the first on 5 January and the second on 23 February in those constituencies where...
.
In the 2001 presidential election
Chadian presidential election, 2001
A presential election was held in Chad on May 20, 2001. President Idriss Déby stood as a candidate for a second term. He obtained the support of a former opponent, Lol Mahamat Choua, leader of the Rally for Democracy and Progress ....
, the RDP supported Déby, and the party, in alliance with Déby's Patriotic Salvation Movement
Patriotic Salvation Movement
The Patriotic Salvation Movement is the ruling political party in Chad.After Idriss Déby, an army commander who participated in an unsuccessful plot against President Hissène Habré in 1989, fled to Sudan, he and his supporters, known as the April 1 Movement, operated from Sudan with Libyan backing...
(MPS), won 12 seats (out of 155) in the April 2002 parliamentary election
Chadian parliamentary election, 2002
The Chadian parliamentary election of 2002 was the second multi-party parliamentary election since the independence of Chad, and came after the normal expiry of the mandate of the National Assembly's deputies...
. Choua himself was re-elected to the National Assembly as an RDP candidate from Mao
Mao, Chad
Mao is a city in Chad, the capital of the Kanem Region and of the department also named Kanem.As in other Chadian regions, Mao is ruled by both a traditional Sultan and by central government officials...
constituency in Kanem Department
Kanem Department
Kanem is one of 2 departments which make up the region of Kanem in Chad. The capital is Mao.The department is divided into 4 sub-prefectures:*Kekedina*Mao*Melea*Wadjigui...
. Choua is the President of the RDP Parliamentary Group in the National Assembly. In 2005, during the constitutional referendum
Chadian constitutional referendum, 2005
On 6 June 2005 the Chadian voters were called to pronounce themselves through a referendum on the revision of the Constitution originally approved on 31 March 1996....
on the elimination of presidential term limits, Lol and his party boycotted the vote.
Following an August 2007 agreement between political parties on preparations for a new parliamentary election in 2009
Chadian parliamentary election, 2009
A parliamentary election was held in Chad on Sunday, 13 February 2011; it was the first such election since 2002. The administration of President Idriss Déby has been in power since 1990...
, Choua headed a committee overseeing the implementation of the agreement.
According to the RDP, on February 3, 2008, during a battle between government forces and rebels
Battle of N'Djamena (2008)
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...
for control of N'Djamena
N'Djamena
N'Djamena is the capital and largest city of Chad. A port on the Chari River, near the confluence with the Logone River, it directly faces the Cameroonian town of Kousséri, to which the city is connected by a bridge. It is also a special statute region, divided in 10 arrondissements. It is a...
, Choua was arrested by members of the presidential guard, who "acted with incredible brutality", and taken away in the back of a truck. Following international expressions of concern regarding the fate of Choua and two other opposition politicians (Ibni Oumar Mahamat Saleh
Ibni Oumar Mahamat Saleh
Ibni Oumar Mahamat Saleh was a Chadian politician and opposition leader who headed the Party for Liberties and Development .-Early life and education:...
and Ngarlejy Yorongar
Ngarlejy Yorongar
Ngarlejy Koji Yorongar le Moinban is a Chadian politician. He is the Executive Federal Coordinator of the Federation, Action for the Republic , a radical opposition party, as well as a Deputy in the National Assembly of Chad and President of the Federation Parliamentary Group.-Early career:Before...
) who were also reportedly arrested, Interior Minister Ahmat Mahamat Bachir said on February 14 that Choua had been "found" and that he was still alive. Also on February 14, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the French ambassador to Chad had been allowed to visit Choua, who was being held in a military prison. On February 16, Minister of Communications Hourmadji Moussa Doumgor said that Choua was being held with prisoners of war. Foreign Minister Ahmad Allam-Mi
Ahmad Allam-Mi
Ahmad Allam-Mi is a Chadian diplomat. He was the Minister of Foreign Affairs and African Integration of Chad from 2005 to 2008, and he has served as Chad's Permanent Representative to the United Nations since 2008.-Diplomatic career:...
said on February 22 that Choua had been found working with the rebels in flagrant délit and was being held for investigation. The RDP sharply denounced this claim.
On February 26, the government announced that Choua was being placed under house arrest.