Negue Djogo
Encyclopedia
Negue Djogo was a Chad
ian officer and politician.
A French
-trained Sara
officer, his first prominent assignment came in 1966 when, still a lieutenant, he was made by President
François Tombalbaye prefect of the key Bourkou-Ennedi-Tibesti
(BET) region
, which France, Chad's former colonial power, had evacuated only in 1964, four years after the independence of the country. He was among those accused of misrule by the French Administrative Reform Mission (MRA) in 1969, for his contempt of Muslim traditions and especially of the dia, the blood wealth.
All the same, under Tombalbaye Djogo made a fast career and became general and Chief of Staff of the Chadian Armed Forces
(FAT), when he was arrested by the President on March 23, 1975 in what was yet another of many purges in the army. He did not remain long in jail: on April 13 a military coup removed Tombalbaye. Immediately freed from jail, the coupists offered him the presidency of the new military junta, but when he declined they asked Félix Malloum
, who on April 15 assumed the position of new head of state of the country.
Malloum's military government
crumbled in 1979 when the Prime Minister Hissène Habré
, a former Muslim warlord, broke with the President on February 12 and attacked the capital N'Djamena
with his militia, the Armed Forces of the North
(FAN). The army's Head of staff, general Nguemourou, reacted weakly and finally resigned the command to Djogo on February 14. His authority was early contested by the colonel Wadel Abdelkader Kamougué
, the head of the gendarmerie
, the military police, which was the sole unit of the army that did not disintegrate in the battle; and when the FAT, defeated, left the capital for Southern Chad on April 15, Kamougué was in command while Djogo remained at N'Djamena.
The rift was becoming evident already in the second peace conference held at Kano
in Nigeria
between April 3 and April 11, when all factions were invited to form a Transitional Government of National Unity (GUNT). Djogo was able to eclipse here Kamougué, and as a result Djogo was nominated vice-president of the new government sworn in on April 29, as representative of the FAT. President became Lol Mohamed Shawa
, a protegé of Nigeria
, Habré Defense Minister and Goukouni Oueddei
Interior Minister. Djogo was also proclaimed commander-in-chief of the new armed forces that were to unite the old FAT and the militias.
The government did not live long, principally for the exclusion from the GUNT of important Libya
-supported militias, which promptly formed a counter-government, the Democratic Revolutionary Council
(CDR), led by Ahmat Acyl. Also, many countries refused to recognize the new government: Djogo experimented this personally at the 6th Franco-African Summit held at Kigali
on May 21 and May 22. Djogo had been entrusted with leading the Chadian delegation at the summit, when doubt on the GUNT's representativity voiced by a number of delegates brought to the abrupt departure of the Chadians.
Bye mid-summer it was clear that the end of Shawa's government was at hand. Nigeria opened new rounds of negotiation for the formation of a more comprehensive government; after a first failure, the second conference held at Lagos
was more successful, and all factions, including the CDR, signed the Lagos Accord
on August 21. As a result o new GUNT was formed on September 3, with Goukouni as new President and Kamougué vice-president.
Djogo tried to politically reemerge by attacking Kamougué. The occasion came on March 1, 1980, when he promoted in N'Djamena a manifesto for the formation a unitarian decentralized state, but he obtained little support for it, mainly some officers that had not followed Kamougué in 1979 and also some functionaries tied to the former Tombalbaye Regime
.
When Habré, who had broken with the GUNT in 1980, conquered N'Djamena in 1982 and made himself new President, the other northern factions of the GUNT refused to surrender and reunited their forces in the BET
Prefecture
. While Goukouni remained its president, its military forces were united under the command of Djogo, who proved himself an able general defeating Habré's forces at Gouro and Ounianga in 1982. He was also the nominal commander of the GUNT's new army, the National Liberation Army (Armée de Libération National or ALN), which with massive Libyan man support inflicted a crushing blow to Habré's forces between June and August 1983.
In 1984 Djogo broke with the GUNT, unhappy of its internal disputes. He formed in Paris
in 1985 the Democratic Front of Chad
(Front Démocratique du Tchad or FDT), a coalition of groups that opposed both Goukouni and Habré. But Habré was able to win over the party in peace talks held at Libreville
in Gabon
under the patronage of the President Omar Bongo
, which included also Alphonse Kotiga
's Codos
and Acheikh ibn Oumar
's CAC-CDR. Djogo signed for his party on December 23, 1985. In exchange Djogo became Minister of Justice, but Habré remains in full control with his National Union for Independence and Revolution
(UNIR) sole legal party. And even if Djogo insisted in a press conference held on March 4, 1986 that the FDT's goal was to restore democratic liberties, he remained unsurprisingly vague.
In mid-1988 he was shifted to the Ministry of transportation and civil aviation, and finally entered in 1989 in the Central Committee of the UNIR with other former opposition leaders. His downfall came in 1990 with the ruin of Habré, who was overthrown by Idriss Déby
; from then he lost any political importance.
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 officer and politician.
A French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
-trained Sara
Sara people
The Sara are an ethnic group in Central Africa, who reside mostly in Chad, making up approximatively 30% of its southern population.-In Chad:...
officer, his first prominent assignment came in 1966 when, still a lieutenant, he was made by President
Heads of state of Chad
-List of Heads of State of Chad:-Affiliations:-External links:**...
François Tombalbaye prefect of the key Bourkou-Ennedi-Tibesti
Bourkou-Ennedi-Tibesti
Borkou-Ennedi-Tibesti may refer to:*Borkou-Ennedi-Tibesti Prefecture*Borkou-Ennedi-Tibesti Region...
(BET) region
Prefectures of Chad
Chad was divided into 14 prefectures from 1960, the year of independence, to 1999, when the country was divided in 28 departments:A further reorganisation in 2002 divided the country into the current 18 regions.NB : Alphabetic order...
, which France, Chad's former colonial power, had evacuated only in 1964, four years after the independence of the country. He was among those accused of misrule by the French Administrative Reform Mission (MRA) in 1969, for his contempt of Muslim traditions and especially of the dia, the blood wealth.
All the same, under Tombalbaye Djogo made a fast career and became general and Chief of Staff 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), when he was arrested by the President on March 23, 1975 in what was yet another of many purges in the army. He did not remain long in jail: on April 13 a military coup removed Tombalbaye. Immediately freed from jail, the coupists offered him the presidency of the new military junta, but when he declined they asked Félix Malloum
Félix Malloum
General Félix Malloum or Félix Malloum Ngakoutou Bey-Ndi was a Chadian politician from the south. He served as an officer in the Chadian Military and as a member of the ruling Chadian Progressive Party . He later became the Chief of Staff with the rank of colonel...
, who on April 15 assumed the position of new head of state of the country.
Malloum's military government
Malloum's military government
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...
crumbled in 1979 when the Prime 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:...
, a former Muslim warlord, broke with the President on February 12 and attacked the capital 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...
with his militia, 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). The army's Head of staff, general Nguemourou, reacted weakly and finally resigned the command to Djogo on February 14. His authority was early contested by the colonel 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...
, the head of the gendarmerie
Gendarmerie
A gendarmerie or gendarmery is a military force charged with police duties among civilian populations. Members of such a force are typically called "gendarmes". The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary describes a gendarme as "a soldier who is employed on police duties" and a "gendarmery, -erie" as...
, the military police, which was the sole unit of the army that did not disintegrate in the battle; and when the FAT, defeated, left the capital for Southern Chad on April 15, Kamougué was in command while Djogo remained at N'Djamena.
The rift was becoming evident already in the second 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...
between April 3 and April 11, when all factions were invited to form a Transitional Government of National Unity (GUNT). Djogo was able to eclipse here Kamougué, and as a result Djogo was nominated vice-president of the new government sworn in on April 29, as representative of the FAT. President became Lol Mohamed Shawa
Lol Mohamed Shawa
Lol Mahamat Choua is a Chadian 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 political party....
, a protegé of 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...
, Habré Defense Minister and 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:...
Interior Minister. Djogo was also proclaimed commander-in-chief of the new armed forces that were to unite the old FAT and the militias.
The government did not live long, principally for the exclusion from the GUNT of important 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....
-supported militias, which promptly formed a counter-government, 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....
(CDR), led by Ahmat Acyl. Also, many countries refused to recognize the new government: Djogo experimented this personally at the 6th Franco-African Summit held at Kigali
Kigali
Kigali, population 965,398 , is the capital and largest city of Rwanda. It is situated near the geographic centre of the nation, and has been the economic, cultural, and transport hub of Rwanda since it became capital at independence in 1962. The main residence and offices of the President of...
on May 21 and May 22. Djogo had been entrusted with leading the Chadian delegation at the summit, when doubt on the GUNT's representativity voiced by a number of delegates brought to the abrupt departure of the Chadians.
Bye mid-summer it was clear that the end of Shawa's government was at hand. Nigeria opened new rounds of negotiation for the formation of a more comprehensive government; after a first failure, the second conference held at 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...
was more successful, and all factions, including the CDR, signed 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...
on August 21. As a result o new GUNT was formed on September 3, with Goukouni as new President and Kamougué vice-president.
Djogo tried to politically reemerge by attacking Kamougué. The occasion came on March 1, 1980, when he promoted in N'Djamena a manifesto for the formation a unitarian decentralized state, but he obtained little support for it, mainly some officers that had not followed Kamougué in 1979 and also some functionaries tied to the former Tombalbaye Regime
The Tombalbaye Regime
President François Tombalbaye faced a task of considerable magnitude when Chad became a sovereign state in 1960. His challenge was to build a nation out of a vast and diverse territory that had poor communications, few known resources, a tiny market, and a collection of impoverished people with...
.
When Habré, who had broken with the GUNT in 1980, conquered N'Djamena in 1982 and made himself new President, the other northern factions of the GUNT refused to surrender and reunited their forces in the BET
Bourkou-Ennedi-Tibesti
Borkou-Ennedi-Tibesti may refer to:*Borkou-Ennedi-Tibesti Prefecture*Borkou-Ennedi-Tibesti Region...
Prefecture
Prefectures of Chad
Chad was divided into 14 prefectures from 1960, the year of independence, to 1999, when the country was divided in 28 departments:A further reorganisation in 2002 divided the country into the current 18 regions.NB : Alphabetic order...
. While Goukouni remained its president, its military forces were united under the command of Djogo, who proved himself an able general defeating Habré's forces at Gouro and Ounianga in 1982. He was also the nominal commander of the GUNT's new army, the National Liberation Army (Armée de Libération National or ALN), which with massive Libyan man support inflicted a crushing blow to Habré's forces between June and August 1983.
In 1984 Djogo broke with the GUNT, unhappy of its internal disputes. He formed in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
in 1985 the Democratic Front of Chad
Democratic Front of Chad
The Democratic Front of Chad was a Chadian political party active in the 1980s.A coalition of four pre-existing groups formed in Paris in 1985 in opposition to both opposition leader Goukouni Oueddei and President Hissène Habré, and dominated by southern Chadians, it was led by the general Negue...
(Front Démocratique du Tchad or FDT), a coalition of groups that opposed both Goukouni and Habré. But Habré was able to win over the party in peace talks held at Libreville
Libreville
Libreville is the capital and largest city of Gabon, in west central Africa. The city is a port on the Komo River, near the Gulf of Guinea, and a trade center for a timber region. As of 2005, it has a population of 578,156.- History :...
in Gabon
Gabon
Gabon , officially the Gabonese Republic is a state in west central Africa sharing borders with Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north, and with the Republic of the Congo curving around the east and south. The Gulf of Guinea, an arm of the Atlantic Ocean is to the west...
under the patronage of the President Omar Bongo
Omar Bongo
El Hadj Omar Bongo Ondimba , born as Albert-Bernard Bongo, was a Gabonese politician who was President of Gabon for 42 years from 1967 until his death in office in 2009....
, which included also Alphonse Kotiga
Alphonse Kotiga
Colonel Alphonse Kotiga, also known as Kotiga Guérina, was a Chadian military officer and politician. He was one of the leaders of the coup d'etat which overthrew and killed Chadian President François Tombalbaye on April 15, 1975, and then became a minister in the government of the new president,...
's Codos
Codos
The Codos or Commandos were guerrilla groups, active in southern Chad from 1983 to 1986, that resisted domination of their region by the President Hissène Habré's army. Many were veterans of the government army of the 1970s or Wadel Abdelkader Kamougué's Chadian Armed Forces , which had collapsed...
and Acheikh ibn Oumar
Acheikh ibn Oumar
Acheikh ibn Oumar is a Chadian politician and military leader. In the 1980s he led the Democratic Revolutionary Council , a military-political group opposing the government of President Hissène Habré....
's CAC-CDR. Djogo signed for his party on December 23, 1985. In exchange Djogo became Minister of Justice, but Habré remains in full control with his National Union for Independence and Revolution
National Union for Independence and Revolution
The National Union for Independence and Revolution was the ruling party in Chad between 1984 and 1990. It was founded in June 1984 by President Hissène Habré as a successor of his Armed Forces of the North, the insurgent group through which Habré had conquered power in 1982...
(UNIR) sole legal party. And even if Djogo insisted in a press conference held on March 4, 1986 that the FDT's goal was to restore democratic liberties, he remained unsurprisingly vague.
In mid-1988 he was shifted to the Ministry of transportation and civil aviation, and finally entered in 1989 in the Central Committee of the UNIR with other former opposition leaders. His downfall came in 1990 with the ruin of Habré, who was overthrown by 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:...
; from then he lost any political importance.