The Tombalbaye Regime
Encyclopedia
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 sharply differing political traditions, ethnic and regional loyalties, and sociocultural patterns. The French colonial powers
that had created the country's boundaries had done little to promote economic interdependence, political cooperation, or crosscultural understanding. Chadians who had hoped that the country's first president might turn out to be a state builder like the 13th century's Dabbalemi
or the 16th century's Aluma were soon disappointed. During its first fifteen years, Chad under Tombalbaye experienced worsening economic conditions, eventual alienation of the most patient of foreign allies, exacerbation of ethnic and regional conflict, and grave weakening of the state as an instrument of governance.
. One week before the country gained independence
, Tombalbaye purged Gabriel Lisette
from his own party, the Chadian Progressive Party
(PPT), declared Lisette a noncitizen while he was traveling abroad, and barred him from returning to Chad. This "coup
by telegram
" was the first in an extensive series of Tombalbaye's increasingly authoritarian
actions to eliminate or neutralize his opponents.
To increase his power and freedom of action, Tombalbaye declared a ban on all political parties
except the PPT in January 1962, and, in April, he established a presidential
form of government
. When serious riot
ing occurred in 1963 in N'Djamena
and Am Timan
, the government declared a state of emergency
and dissolved the National Assembly
. And, as part of a major campaign against real and imagined political opponents, Tombalbaye created a special criminal court
. By the end of the year, the country's prison
s contained a virtual "who's who
" of Chadian politician
s. In June 1964, a new National Assembly granted Tombalbaye complete control over all appointments to the Political Bureau
of the PPT, which by then was the sole source of political authority. With the PPT, government, and upper echelons of the civil service
stocked with loyalists, and with opposition leaders in prison, exile
, or completely co-opted, Tombalbaye was in full command of the country.
An effort to Africanize the civil service and security forces
as rapidly as possible complemented Tombalbaye's drive for personal power. Between 1960 and 1963, the number of French
officials in the central government administration
declined from ninety-five to thirty (although the total number of French personnel increased as technical advisers were hired for development programs), and by the end of 1962 the entire territorial administrative structure was in Chadian hands. In addition, units of the Chad's national army
replaced French military forces in Borkou-Ennedi-Tibesti Prefecture and in Abéché
, a process formally completed on January 23, 1965.
Africanization was not entirely popular among Chad's farmer
s and herders
, despite their deep resentment of French colonial
rule. A decline in the quality of government service was immediately apparent, in part because of the usual difficulties of transition, but also because many of the newly hired and promoted Chadians were less experienced and less adequately trained than their departing French counterparts. Increasing the discontent, Tombalbaye imposed an additional tax in 1964, under the euphemism of a "national loan
." On top of that action, some government administrators were allegedly forcing citizens
in rural
areas to make payments at three times the official taxation rates
. Reports of corruption
and other abuses of authority grew as Chad's new officials became aware of both the increased pressures and the decreased constraints on public servants.
Because the great majority of the country's Western-educated and French-speaking
citizens were southerners, the policy of Africanization often represented a "southernization" of the Chadian government. What appeared to some Western
observers to be progress in Africa
n self-government
was perceived by those from the northern and central areas to be an increasingly blatant seizure of power by southerners. To many in northern and central Chad, the southern Chadians were simply another set of foreigners, almost as alien and arrogant as the departing French. Tombalbaye's failure to establish hiring and training policies geared to achieving greater ethnic and regional balance in public administration
was one of his most serious shortcomings. Another was his lack of success - or lack of interest - in reaching power-sharing agreements with key leaders in the Sahara
n and sahel
ian regions.
Dissatisfaction with these failures was expressed violently, and the government response was just as violent. When young Muslim
s rioted in N'Djamena on 16 September 1963 following the arbitrary arrests of three Muslim leaders, the government reacted swiftly and repressively, using the army for the repression; as a result, more than 300 people were killed. A little more than a year later, an altercation at a public dance in the northern town of Bardaï
prompted a Sara
deputy prefect
to order the inhabitants of an entire village
to march to prison, where many were stripped and all were insulted. Many were arbitrarily fined for such offenses as wearing beard
s or turban
s. Included among the targets of abuse was Oueddei Kichidemi
, the derde
, or spiritual head, of the Teda people, a Toubou
group. Explosive confrontations such as this occurred repeatedly as the inexperienced southerners, who understood little and cared less for the customs of the peoples they governed, replaced experienced French administrators.
By this time, just five years after independence
, the possibility of armed conflict
was growing. Politicians throughout Chad increasingly used traditional loyalties and enmities to decry opposition and solidify popular support for their positions. In view of Chad's historical legacy of conflict, some historians have argued that even the most competent leader with the most enlightened set of policies would have eventually faced secession
ist movements or armed opposition. Tombalbaye, however, hastened the onset of civil conflict
by quickly squandering his legitimacy through repressive tactics and regional favoritism.
in Guéra Prefecture
. Five hundred persons died, including the local deputy to the National Assembly and nine other government officials. From Mangalmé and nearby Batha Prefecture
, the rebellion spread to Ouaddaï
and Salamat
prefectures, where in February 1967 the prefect and deputy prefect were killed. In August 1968, a major mutiny
in Aozou
among the Toubou
units of the Nomad and National Guard
highlighted the continuing unrest in the north. In the same year, antigovernment activities and tracts began to appear in Chari-Baguirmi Prefecture
, only about 100 kilometers from N'Djamena. Travel became unsafe in much of central Chad, and governmental authority in the north was reduced by 1969 to the garrison towns of Faya-Largeau
, Fada
, Bardaï, and Ounianga Kébir.
In addition to historical causes and what Tombalbaye himself was later to call "maladministration", the country's Arabic speaking
neighbors abetted rebellion in the northern and central regions of Chad. In Sudan
and Libya
, numerous self-styled "liberation fronts" appeared in the mid-1960s, printing manifestos and claiming leadership over rebellious groups inside Chad. The most prominent of these fronts, the National Liberation Front of Chad
(Front de Libération Nationale du Tchad or FROLINAT), was formed in June 1966 in Nyala
in southwestern Sudan. Personality, philosophical, and ethnic differences soon led to the front's fragmentation, with one group moving to Khartoum
and another, which retained the FROLINAT designation, establishing offices in Algiers
and Tripoli
.
The influence of external assistance to the rebels during this period was minimal. Prior to 1976, Chad's uprisings were disorganized and uncoordinated among dissident groups. Most observers attribute the rebels' success more to the ineptitude of Chad's government and national army than to outside assistance.
After FROLINAT's eastern region field commander, Ibrahim Abatcha
, died in combat in February 1968, four contenders for leadership emerged. Within two years, two of them reportedly had been assassinated and one had fled to Sudan; the fourth, Abba Siddick
, became FROLINAT's new secretary general in 1970. But in 1971, when Siddick called for greater cooperation among various groups under the FROLINAT banner, he encountered vigorous opposition in the north from Goukouni Oueddei
, son of Oueddei Kichidemi, and Hissène Habré
, leaders of the Command Council of the Armed Forces of the North
(Conseil de Commandement de Forces Armeés du Nord or CCFAN). Goukouni and Habré broke with Siddick, who managed to retain only nominal control over FROLINAT's First Liberation Army in east-central Chad.
Tombalbaye's initial response to the increasing antigovernment activities was to attempt to crush them. When the government's forces proved woefully inadequate for the task, Tombalbaye swallowed his pride and called in the French under provisions of military treaties signed in 1960.
Confronted by the unpopularity of such a step, the French government joined many Chadian intellectual
s in calling for a broad range of economic and political reforms by Chad's government. Desperate for French assistance, Tombalbaye reluctantly accepted the thirty-three member Administrative Reform Mission (Mission de Réforme Administrative or MRA), which arrived in 1969 with authority to retrain the army, reorganize the civil service, and recommend the abolition of unpopular laws and taxes. The most significant political reform was the full restoration to Chad's major sultan
s of their previous judicial authority. The government also allowed them to resume their function as tax collectors in exchange for 10% of the revenue. This action, which Tombalbaye implemented grudgingly, temporarily undermined rebel activities across central Chad.
Liberalization continued in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Following the 1969 presidential election
s, in which Tombalbaye ran unopposed, some 600 political prisoner
s were released, including a number of prominent Muslims. In April 1971, Tombalbaye, addressing the Seventh Congress of the PPT, admitted for the first time that he had made mistakes and that there were some shortcomings associated with his policies. He promised a campaign of national reconciliation, and a few weeks later he formed a government that included a greater proportion of Muslims and northerners. In June Tombalbaye freed another 1,500 political prisoners and toured rebel regions in the north, where he promised, among other things, government-subsidized
salt
and sugar
for the nomad
s of Zouar and Bardaï.
These reforms and French assistance contributed to the relative calm of 1970 and 1971. French military forces provided extensive and effective assistance in containing rebellious activities in central Chad. By June 1971, overt rebellion had been reduced for the most part to isolated pockets in the Tibesti
region. The French government, under domestic pressure, began to withdraw its forces from Chad.
involving some recently amnestied
Chadians who allegedly received support from Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi
. Tomabalbaye severed relations with Libya and invited anti-Qaddafi elements to establish bases in Chad. In retaliation, Qaddafi recognized FROLINAT, offered (for the first time formally) an operational base in Tripoli to Siddick, and increased the flow of supplies to the Chadian rebels.
Domestic calm deteriorated further when student
s conducted a strike
in N'Djamena in November 1971. Although easily contained, the strike demonstrated the growing politicization and disaffection of young members of the southern elite
and reflected their increased awareness of the army's political potential. Tombalbaye then replaced the chief of staff, General
Jacques Doumro
, who was a favorite of the students, with Colonel
Félix Malloum
.
In June 1972, a band of Libyan-trained saboteurs
was captured while attempting to smuggle
guns
and explosives
into the capital. These arrest
s coincided with a serious financial crisis, a worsening drought
, bitter government infighting, and civil unrest in the capital. These events convinced Tombalbaye to abandon his policy of national reconciliation. He incarcerated more than 1,000 real or suspected "enemies of the state". In an indication of his growing distrust of the previously secure south, Tombalbaye detained hundreds of southerners and removed two key southern cabinet
ministers
. He also effected a dramatic diplomatic aboutface designed to obtain economic assistance from the Arab world
while undermining FROLINAT. To enhance ties to the Arab world, Tombalbaye broke Chad's relations with Israel
in September 1972. A few months later, Tombalbaye secured an initial pledge of 23 billion CFA Franc
s from Libya. In 1973 other Arab capitals promised aid. In addition, Chad withdrew from the Afro-Malagasy and Mauritian Common Organization (Organisation Commune Africaine, Malgache, et Mauricienne or OCAMM), a moderate alliance of French-speaking African states.
Tombalbaye's strategy to create difficulties for FROLINAT was successful. When Qaddafi began restricting deliveries of military supplies and food to the rebels, fighting for the limited supplies erupted between FROLINAT's First Liberation Army and FAN (at that time also called the Second Liberation Army). The Second Liberation Army lost control of Ennedi and retreated into northern Borkou and Tibesti. In April 1974, however, it struck back by seizing three European hostages, including a French archaeologist
at Bardaï.
By this time, the Tombalbaye presidency was rapidly unraveling, as greater attention focused on the real and suspected threats from within the government. In June 1973, Tombalbaye arrested Malloum, the head of the women's wing of the PPT, and a score of other party officials, mostly from the south. These individuals were held on charges of "political sorcery" in what came to be known as the "Black Sheep Plot" because of their alleged involvement in animal sacrifices. Moreover, when Outel Bono
, a widely admired liberal politician, was assassinated in Paris
while organizing a new political party in August, many believed that Tombalbaye's government was behind the murder. Also that month, Tombalbaye decided to replace the PPT with a new party, the National Movement for the Cultural and Social Revolution
(Mouvement National pour la Révolution Culturelle et Sociale or MNRCS).
To deflect domestic criticism, Tombalbaye embarked on a campaign to promote authenticité, or "Chaditude." This effort was aimed at expunging foreign practices and influences. To shore up his support from Chad's expanding urban elite, Tombalbaye Africanized
the names of several places (Fort-Lamy and Fort Archambault became N'Djamena and Sarh
, respectively) and ordered civil servants to use indigenous names in place of their Europe
an ones; he changed his first name to Ngarta. In addition, his policies induced many foreign missionaries
to repatriate. His strident attacks on the French government were also popular. Tombalbaye lashed out specifically at Jacques Foccart
, the powerful secretary general to the French Presidency
for African Affairs, who was labeled an "evil genius" and formally condemned in a National Assembly resolution as the source of some "fourteen plots" against the government of Chad.
To restore his sagging support among Sara
traditionalists in the rural south, Tombalbaye came out in favor of the harsh physical and psychological yondo initiation rites for all southern males between sixteen and fifty, making them compulsory for any non-Muslim seeking admission to the civil service, government, and higher ranks of the military. From mid-1973 to April 1974, an estimated 3,000 southern civil servants, including two cabinet ministers and one colonel, went through the yondo ordeal. Because the rites were perceived as anti-Christian and essentially borrowed from one Sara subgroup, resistance to the process exacerbated antagonisms along clan and religious lines. Therefore, rather than encouraging greater southern support, Tombalbaye's action created disaffection among civil servants, army officers, and students.
The worsening drought in the early 1970s also affected Chad's degenerating political situation. Throughout 1974 international criticism of Chad's handling of drought-relief efforts reached a new peak, as government insensitivity and overt profiteering became obvious.
In response to its economic crisis, the government launched Operation Agriculture, which involved a massive volunteer cotton
planting effort on virgin lands. The project increased production somewhat, but at the expense of major economic dislocations and greater southern resentment, particularly from people in cities and towns who were rounded up by the military to "volunteer" for agricultural labor.
By early 1975, many observers believed that Tombalbaye had eroded his two main bases of support - the south and the armed forces. Only intra-Sara divisions and concern over the possible loss of southern influence in government had prevented any well-organized anti-Tombalbaye movement. In addition, throughout the early 1970s Tombalbaye's criticism of the army's mediocre performance in the field had angered the officer corps and dissipated its loyalty. Other military grievances included frequent purges and reshufflings of the top ranks. In March 1975, Tombalbaye ordered the arrest of several senior military officers, as suspects in yet another plot. On April 13, 1975, several units of N'Djamena's gendarmerie
, acting under the initial direction of junior military officers, killed Tombalbaye during a coup
.
Heads of state of Chad
-List of Heads of State of Chad:-Affiliations:-External links:**...
François Tombalbaye faced a task of considerable magnitude when 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...
became a sovereign state
Sovereign state
A sovereign state, or simply, state, is a state with a defined territory on which it exercises internal and external sovereignty, a permanent population, a government, and the capacity to enter into relations with other sovereign states. It is also normally understood to be a state which is neither...
in 1960. His challenge was to build a nation
Nation
A nation may refer to a community of people who share a common language, culture, ethnicity, descent, and/or history. In this definition, a nation has no physical borders. However, it can also refer to people who share a common territory and government irrespective of their ethnic make-up...
out of a vast and diverse territory that had poor communications
Transport
Transport or transportation is the movement of people, cattle, animals and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, rail, road, water, cable, pipeline, and space. The field can be divided into infrastructure, vehicles, and operations...
, few known resources, a tiny market, and a collection of impoverished people with sharply differing political traditions, ethnic and regional loyalties, and sociocultural patterns. The French colonial powers
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...
that had created the country's boundaries had done little to promote economic interdependence, political cooperation, or crosscultural understanding. Chadians who had hoped that the country's first president might turn out to be a state builder like the 13th century's Dabbalemi
Dunama Dabbalemi
Dunama Dabbalemi, of the Sayfawa dynasty, was the mai of the Kanem Empire, in present-day Chad, from 1203 to 1243.A fervent Muslim, Dabbalemi initiated diplomatic exchanges with sultans in North Africa and apparently arranged for the establishment of a special hostel in Cairo to facilitate...
or the 16th century's Aluma were soon disappointed. During its first fifteen years, Chad under Tombalbaye experienced worsening economic conditions, eventual alienation of the most patient of foreign allies, exacerbation of ethnic and regional conflict, and grave weakening of the state as an instrument of governance.
Tombalbaye's Governance
At the outset, Tombalbaye demonstrated an autocratic style along with a distrust of the institutions of democracyDemocracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
. One week before the country gained independence
Independence
Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state in which its residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory....
, Tombalbaye purged 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...
from his own party, 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), declared Lisette a noncitizen while he was traveling abroad, and barred him from returning to Chad. This "coup
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
by telegram
Telegraphy
Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages via some form of signalling technology. Telegraphy requires messages to be converted to a code which is known to both sender and receiver...
" was the first in an extensive series of Tombalbaye's increasingly authoritarian
Authoritarianism
Authoritarianism is a form of social organization characterized by submission to authority. It is usually opposed to individualism and democracy...
actions to eliminate or neutralize his opponents.
To increase his power and freedom of action, Tombalbaye declared a ban on all political parties
Political party
A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...
except the PPT in January 1962, and, in April, he established a presidential
Presidential system
A presidential system is a system of government where an executive branch exists and presides separately from the legislature, to which it is not responsible and which cannot, in normal circumstances, dismiss it....
form of government
Government
Government refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...
. When serious riot
Riot
A riot is a form of civil disorder characterized often by what is thought of as disorganized groups lashing out in a sudden and intense rash of violence against authority, property or people. While individuals may attempt to lead or control a riot, riots are thought to be typically chaotic and...
ing occurred in 1963 in 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...
and Am Timan
Am Timan
Am Timan is a city in Chad and is the capital of the region of Salamat. Am Timan means "mother of twins," although the reason for the name is not known...
, the government declared a state of emergency
State of emergency
A state of emergency is a governmental declaration that may suspend some normal functions of the executive, legislative and judicial powers, alert citizens to change their normal behaviours, or order government agencies to implement emergency preparedness plans. It can also be used as a rationale...
and dissolved 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...
. And, as part of a major campaign against real and imagined political opponents, Tombalbaye created a special criminal court
Court
A court is a form of tribunal, often a governmental institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance with the rule of law...
. By the end of the year, the country's prison
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
s contained a virtual "who's who
Who's Who
Who's Who is the title of a number of reference publications, generally containing concise biographical information on a particular group of people...
" of Chadian politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
s. In June 1964, a new National Assembly granted Tombalbaye complete control over all appointments to the Political Bureau
Politburo
Politburo , literally "Political Bureau [of the Central Committee]," is the executive committee for a number of communist political parties.-Marxist-Leninist states:...
of the PPT, which by then was the sole source of political authority. With the PPT, government, and upper echelons of the civil service
Civil service
The term civil service has two distinct meanings:* A branch of governmental service in which individuals are employed on the basis of professional merit as proven by competitive examinations....
stocked with loyalists, and with opposition leaders in prison, exile
Exile
Exile means to be away from one's home , while either being explicitly refused permission to return and/or being threatened with imprisonment or death upon return...
, or completely co-opted, Tombalbaye was in full command of the country.
An effort to Africanize the civil service and security forces
Police
The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...
as rapidly as possible complemented Tombalbaye's drive for personal power. Between 1960 and 1963, the number of French
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
officials in the central government administration
Administration (government)
The term administration, as used in the context of government, differs according to jurisdiction.-United States:In United States usage, the term refers to the executive branch under a specific president , for example: the "Barack Obama administration." It can also mean an executive branch agency...
declined from ninety-five to thirty (although the total number of French personnel increased as technical advisers were hired for development programs), and by the end of 1962 the entire territorial administrative structure was in Chadian hands. In addition, units of the Chad's national army
Army
An army An army An army (from Latin arma "arms, weapons" via Old French armée, "armed" (feminine), in the broadest sense, is the land-based military of a nation or state. It may also include other branches of the military such as the air force via means of aviation corps...
replaced French military forces in Borkou-Ennedi-Tibesti Prefecture and in Abéché
Abéché
-Demographics:Demographic evolution:-References:...
, a process formally completed on January 23, 1965.
Africanization was not entirely popular among Chad's farmer
Farmer
A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, who raises living organisms for food or raw materials, generally including livestock husbandry and growing crops, such as produce and grain...
s and herders
Shepherd
A shepherd is a person who tends, feeds or guards flocks of sheep.- Origins :Shepherding is one of the oldest occupations, beginning some 6,000 years ago in Asia Minor. Sheep were kept for their milk, meat and especially their wool...
, despite their deep resentment of French colonial
Colonialism
Colonialism is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. It is a process whereby the metropole claims sovereignty over the colony and the social structure, government, and economics of the colony are changed by...
rule. A decline in the quality of government service was immediately apparent, in part because of the usual difficulties of transition, but also because many of the newly hired and promoted Chadians were less experienced and less adequately trained than their departing French counterparts. Increasing the discontent, Tombalbaye imposed an additional tax in 1964, under the euphemism of a "national loan
Loan
A loan is a type of debt. Like all debt instruments, a loan entails the redistribution of financial assets over time, between the lender and the borrower....
." On top of that action, some government administrators were allegedly forcing citizens
Citizenship
Citizenship is the state of being a citizen of a particular social, political, national, or human resource community. Citizenship status, under social contract theory, carries with it both rights and responsibilities...
in rural
Rural
Rural areas or the country or countryside are areas that are not urbanized, though when large areas are described, country towns and smaller cities will be included. They have a low population density, and typically much of the land is devoted to agriculture...
areas to make payments at three times the official taxation rates
Tax rates around the world
Comparison of tax rates around the world is difficult and somewhat subjective. Tax laws in most countries are extremely complex, and tax burden falls differently on different groups in each country and sub-national unit. The graph below gives an indication by rank of some raw...
. Reports of corruption
Political corruption
Political corruption is the use of legislated powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption. Neither are illegal acts by...
and other abuses of authority grew as Chad's new officials became aware of both the increased pressures and the decreased constraints on public servants.
Because the great majority of the country's Western-educated and French-speaking
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
citizens were southerners, the policy of Africanization often represented a "southernization" of the Chadian government. What appeared to some Western
Western world
The Western world, also known as the West and the Occident , is a term referring to the countries of Western Europe , the countries of the Americas, as well all countries of Northern and Central Europe, Australia and New Zealand...
observers to be progress in Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
n self-government
Self-governance
Self-governance is an abstract concept that refers to several scales of organization.It may refer to personal conduct or family units but more commonly refers to larger scale activities, i.e., professions, industry bodies, religions and political units , up to and including autonomous regions and...
was perceived by those from the northern and central areas to be an increasingly blatant seizure of power by southerners. To many in northern and central Chad, the southern Chadians were simply another set of foreigners, almost as alien and arrogant as the departing French. Tombalbaye's failure to establish hiring and training policies geared to achieving greater ethnic and regional balance in public administration
Public administration
Public Administration houses the implementation of government policy and an academic discipline that studies this implementation and that prepares civil servants for this work. As a "field of inquiry with a diverse scope" its "fundamental goal.....
was one of his most serious shortcomings. Another was his lack of success - or lack of interest - in reaching power-sharing agreements with key leaders in the Sahara
Sahara
The Sahara is the world's second largest desert, after Antarctica. At over , it covers most of Northern Africa, making it almost as large as Europe or the United States. The Sahara stretches from the Red Sea, including parts of the Mediterranean coasts, to the outskirts of the Atlantic Ocean...
n and sahel
Sahel
The Sahel is the ecoclimatic and biogeographic zone of transition between the Sahara desert in the North and the Sudanian Savannas in the south.It stretches across the North African continent between the Atlantic Ocean and the Red Sea....
ian regions.
Dissatisfaction with these failures was expressed violently, and the government response was just as violent. When young Muslim
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...
s rioted in N'Djamena on 16 September 1963 following the arbitrary arrests of three Muslim leaders, the government reacted swiftly and repressively, using the army for the repression; as a result, more than 300 people were killed. A little more than a year later, an altercation at a public dance in the northern town of Bardaï
Bardai, Chad
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....
prompted a 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:...
deputy prefect
Préfet
A prefect in France is the State's representative in a department or region. Sub-prefects are responsible for the subdivisions of departments, arrondissements...
to order the inhabitants of an entire village
Village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...
to march to prison, where many were stripped and all were insulted. Many were arbitrarily fined for such offenses as wearing beard
Beard
A beard is the collection of hair that grows on the chin, cheeks and neck of human beings. Usually, only pubescent or adult males are able to grow beards. However, women with hirsutism may develop a beard...
s or turban
Turban
In English, Turban refers to several types of headwear popularly worn in the Middle East, North Africa, Punjab, Jamaica and Southwest Asia. A commonly used synonym is Pagri, the Indian word for turban.-Styles:...
s. Included among the targets of abuse was Oueddei Kichidemi
Oueddei Kichidemi
Oueddei Kichidemi was the father of the former Chadian President Goukouni Oueddei and was the tribal leader, or derde, of the Toubou Teda of the Tibesti during the Chadian Civil War....
, the derde
Derde
The derde is the title held by the highest religious and political authority among the Toubou Teda of the Tibesti, in north-western Chad...
, or spiritual head, of the Teda people, a Toubou
Toubou
The Tubu are an ethnic group that live mainly in northern Chad, but also in Libya, Niger and Sudan....
group. Explosive confrontations such as this occurred repeatedly as the inexperienced southerners, who understood little and cared less for the customs of the peoples they governed, replaced experienced French administrators.
By this time, just five years after independence
Independence
Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state in which its residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory....
, the possibility of armed conflict
War
War is a state of organized, armed, and often prolonged conflict carried on between states, nations, or other parties typified by extreme aggression, social disruption, and usually high mortality. War should be understood as an actual, intentional and widespread armed conflict between political...
was growing. Politicians throughout Chad increasingly used traditional loyalties and enmities to decry opposition and solidify popular support for their positions. In view of Chad's historical legacy of conflict, some historians have argued that even the most competent leader with the most enlightened set of policies would have eventually faced secession
Secession
Secession is the act of withdrawing from an organization, union, or especially a political entity. Threats of secession also can be a strategy for achieving more limited goals.-Secession theory:...
ist movements or armed opposition. Tombalbaye, however, hastened the onset of civil conflict
Civil war
A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same nation state or republic, or, less commonly, between two countries created from a formerly-united nation state....
by quickly squandering his legitimacy through repressive tactics and regional favoritism.
Rebellion in Chad
On November 1, 1965, frustration with what was perceived as government mismanagement and tax collection abuses erupted in riots in the town of MangalméMangalmé riots
The Mangalmé riots are clashes that erupted in central Chad, starting in the village of Mangalmé in the Guéra Prefecture. Here on November 1, 1965, frustration among the muslim Moubi peasantry with what was perceived as government mismanagement and tax collection abuses erupted, rapidly involving...
in Guéra Prefecture
Guéra Prefecture
This article refers to one of the former prefectures of Chad. From 2002 the country was divided into 18 regions.Guéra was one of the 14 prefectures of Chad. Its capital was Mongo...
. Five hundred persons died, including the local deputy to the National Assembly and nine other government officials. From Mangalmé and nearby Batha Prefecture
Batha Prefecture
This article refers to one of the former prefectures of Chad. From 2002 the country was divided into 18 regions.Batha was one of the 14 prefectures of Chad. Located in the center of the country, Batha covered an area of 88,800 square kilometers and had a population of 288,458 in 1993. Its capital...
, the rebellion spread to Ouaddaï
Ouaddaï Prefecture
This article refers to one of the former prefectures of Chad. From 2002 the country was divided into 18 regions.Ouaddaï was one of the 14 prefectures of Chad. Located in the east of the country, Ouaddaï covered an area of 76,240 square kilometers and had a population of 543,900 in 1993. Its...
and Salamat
Salamat Prefecture
This article refers to one of the former prefectures of Chad. From 2002 the country was divided into 18 regions.Salamat was one of the 14 prefectures of Chad. Located in the southeast of the country, Salamat covered an area of 63,000 square kilometers and had a population of 184,403 in 1993...
prefectures, where in February 1967 the prefect and deputy prefect were killed. In August 1968, a major mutiny
Mutiny
Mutiny is a conspiracy among members of a group of similarly situated individuals to openly oppose, change or overthrow an authority to which they are subject...
in Aozou
Aozou Strip
The Aouzou Strip is a strip of land in northern Chad which lies along the border with Libya, extending south to a depth of about 100 kilometers into Chad's Borkou-Ennedi-Tibesti Region for an area of 114,000 km²...
among the Toubou
Toubou
The Tubu are an ethnic group that live mainly in northern Chad, but also in Libya, Niger and Sudan....
units of the Nomad and National Guard
Nomad and National Guard
The National and Nomadic Guard of Chad is one of four defence and security forces in Chad....
highlighted the continuing unrest in the north. In the same year, antigovernment activities and tracts began to appear in Chari-Baguirmi Prefecture
Chari-Baguirmi Prefecture
This article refers to one of the former prefectures of Chad. From 2002 the country was divided into 18 regions.Chari-Baguirmi was one of the 14 prefectures of Chad. Located in the west of the country, Chari-Baguirmi covered an area of 82,910 square kilometers and had a population of 720,941 in...
, only about 100 kilometers from N'Djamena. Travel became unsafe in much of central Chad, and governmental authority in the north was reduced by 1969 to the garrison towns of 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...
, Fada
Fada
Fada is the capital of the Ennedi Ouest department of Chad, lying in the Ennedi Plateau. It has a population of 23,786 .It is known for the surrounding cave paintings and rock formations, while the Guelta d'Archei and a wood growing in a wadi are local attractions.It is the birthplace of the...
, Bardaï, and Ounianga Kébir.
In addition to historical causes and what Tombalbaye himself was later to call "maladministration", the country's Arabic speaking
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
neighbors abetted rebellion in the northern and central regions of Chad. In 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...
and 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....
, numerous self-styled "liberation fronts" appeared in the mid-1960s, printing manifestos and claiming leadership over rebellious groups inside Chad. The most prominent of these fronts, the National Liberation Front of Chad
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...
(Front de Libération Nationale du Tchad or FROLINAT), was formed in June 1966 in Nyala
Nyala, Sudan
Nyala is the capital of South Darfur state in the western part of the Sudan. Nyala is located at elevation 2,208 feet in the Darfur historical region.- History :...
in southwestern Sudan. Personality, philosophical, and ethnic differences soon led to the front's fragmentation, with one group moving to Khartoum
Khartoum
Khartoum is the capital and largest city of Sudan and of Khartoum State. It is located at the confluence of the White Nile flowing north from Lake Victoria, and the Blue Nile flowing west from Ethiopia. The location where the two Niles meet is known as "al-Mogran"...
and another, which retained the FROLINAT designation, establishing offices in 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...
and 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 influence of external assistance to the rebels during this period was minimal. Prior to 1976, Chad's uprisings were disorganized and uncoordinated among dissident groups. Most observers attribute the rebels' success more to the ineptitude of Chad's government and national army than to outside assistance.
After FROLINAT's eastern region field commander, Ibrahim Abatcha
Ibrahim Abatcha
Ibrahim Abatcha was a Muslim Chadian politician reputed of Marxist leanings and associations. His political activity started during the decolonization process of Chad from France, but after the country's independence he was forced to go in exile due to the increasing authoritarism of the country's...
, died in combat in February 1968, four contenders for leadership emerged. Within two years, two of them reportedly had been assassinated and one had fled to Sudan; the fourth, Abba Siddick
Abba Siddick
Abba Siddick is a Muslim Chadian politician and revolutionary born in what was the Oubangui-Chari French colony . In passing in Chad , he entered in active politics in the Chadian Progressive Party , a nationalist and radical African political party founded in 1947 and led by Gabriel Lisette...
, became FROLINAT's new secretary general in 1970. But in 1971, when Siddick called for greater cooperation among various groups under the FROLINAT banner, he encountered vigorous opposition in the north from 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:...
, son of Oueddei Kichidemi, and 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:...
, leaders of the Command Council of the Armed Forces of the North
Command Council of the Armed Forces of the North
The Command Council of the Armed Forces of the North was a Chadian rebel army active during the Chadian Civil War. Originally called Second Liberation Army of National Liberation Front of Chad , and was one of the original groups in rebellion against the regime of François Tombalbaye...
(Conseil de Commandement de Forces Armeés du Nord or CCFAN). Goukouni and Habré broke with Siddick, who managed to retain only nominal control over FROLINAT's First Liberation Army in east-central Chad.
Tombalbaye's initial response to the increasing antigovernment activities was to attempt to crush them. When the government's forces proved woefully inadequate for the task, Tombalbaye swallowed his pride and called in the French under provisions of military treaties signed in 1960.
Confronted by the unpopularity of such a step, the French government joined many Chadian intellectual
Intellectual
An intellectual is a person who uses intelligence and critical or analytical reasoning in either a professional or a personal capacity.- Terminology and endeavours :"Intellectual" can denote four types of persons:...
s in calling for a broad range of economic and political reforms by Chad's government. Desperate for French assistance, Tombalbaye reluctantly accepted the thirty-three member Administrative Reform Mission (Mission de Réforme Administrative or MRA), which arrived in 1969 with authority to retrain the army, reorganize the civil service, and recommend the abolition of unpopular laws and taxes. The most significant political reform was the full restoration to Chad's major sultan
Sultan
Sultan is a title with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic language abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", and "dictatorship", derived from the masdar سلطة , meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be used as the title of certain rulers who...
s of their previous judicial authority. The government also allowed them to resume their function as tax collectors in exchange for 10% of the revenue. This action, which Tombalbaye implemented grudgingly, temporarily undermined rebel activities across central Chad.
Liberalization continued in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Following the 1969 presidential election
Election
An election is a formal decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy operates since the 17th century. Elections may fill offices in the legislature, sometimes in the...
s, in which Tombalbaye ran unopposed, some 600 political prisoner
Political prisoner
According to the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, a political prisoner is ‘someone who is in prison because they have opposed or criticized the government of their own country’....
s were released, including a number of prominent Muslims. In April 1971, Tombalbaye, addressing the Seventh Congress of the PPT, admitted for the first time that he had made mistakes and that there were some shortcomings associated with his policies. He promised a campaign of national reconciliation, and a few weeks later he formed a government that included a greater proportion of Muslims and northerners. In June Tombalbaye freed another 1,500 political prisoners and toured rebel regions in the north, where he promised, among other things, government-subsidized
Subsidy
A subsidy is an assistance paid to a business or economic sector. Most subsidies are made by the government to producers or distributors in an industry to prevent the decline of that industry or an increase in the prices of its products or simply to encourage it to hire more labor A subsidy (also...
salt
Salt
In chemistry, salts are ionic compounds that result from the neutralization reaction of an acid and a base. They are composed of cations and anions so that the product is electrically neutral...
and sugar
Sugar
Sugar is a class of edible crystalline carbohydrates, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose, characterized by a sweet flavor.Sucrose in its refined form primarily comes from sugar cane and sugar beet...
for the nomad
Nomad
Nomadic people , commonly known as itinerants in modern-day contexts, are communities of people who move from one place to another, rather than settling permanently in one location. There are an estimated 30-40 million nomads in the world. Many cultures have traditionally been nomadic, but...
s of Zouar and Bardaï.
These reforms and French assistance contributed to the relative calm of 1970 and 1971. French military forces provided extensive and effective assistance in containing rebellious activities in central Chad. By June 1971, overt rebellion had been reduced for the most part to isolated pockets in the Tibesti
Tibesti Mountains
The Tibesti Mountains are a range of inactive volcanoes located on the northern edge of the Chad Basin in the Borkou- and Tibesti Region of northern Chad. The massif is one of the most prominent features of the Central-Sahara desert and covers an area of approximately 100,000 km². The northern...
region. The French government, under domestic pressure, began to withdraw its forces from Chad.
Fall of the regime
Tombalbaye's reform efforts ceased abruptly in August 1971. In that month, he claimed to have quashed a coupCoup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
involving some recently amnestied
Amnesty
Amnesty is a legislative or executive act by which a state restores those who may have been guilty of an offense against it to the positions of innocent people, without changing the laws defining the offense. It includes more than pardon, in as much as it obliterates all legal remembrance of the...
Chadians who allegedly received support from Libyan leader 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...
. Tomabalbaye severed relations with Libya and invited anti-Qaddafi elements to establish bases in Chad. In retaliation, Qaddafi recognized FROLINAT, offered (for the first time formally) an operational base in Tripoli to Siddick, and increased the flow of supplies to the Chadian rebels.
Domestic calm deteriorated further when student
Student
A student is a learner, or someone who attends an educational institution. In some nations, the English term is reserved for those who attend university, while a schoolchild under the age of eighteen is called a pupil in English...
s conducted a strike
Strike action
Strike action, also called labour strike, on strike, greve , or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became...
in N'Djamena in November 1971. Although easily contained, the strike demonstrated the growing politicization and disaffection of young members of the southern elite
Elite
Elite refers to an exceptional or privileged group that wields considerable power within its sphere of influence...
and reflected their increased awareness of the army's political potential. Tombalbaye then replaced the chief of staff, General
General
A general officer is an officer of high military rank, usually in the army, and in some nations, the air force. The term is widely used by many nations of the world, and when a country uses a different term, there is an equivalent title given....
Jacques Doumro
Jacques Doumro
Jacques Doumro was a Chadian general during the Tombalbaye Regime.Doumro joined the French Army when he was nineteen years old, and fought in the Second World War, becoming a non-commissioned officer in the French Colonial Forces...
, who was a favorite of the students, with Colonel
Colonel
Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
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...
.
In June 1972, a band of Libyan-trained saboteurs
Sabotage
Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening another entity through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. In a workplace setting, sabotage is the conscious withdrawal of efficiency generally directed at causing some change in workplace conditions. One who engages in sabotage is...
was captured while attempting to smuggle
Smuggling
Smuggling is the clandestine transportation of goods or persons, such as out of a building, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations.There are various motivations to smuggle...
guns
Firearm
A firearm is a weapon that launches one, or many, projectile at high velocity through confined burning of a propellant. This subsonic burning process is technically known as deflagration, as opposed to supersonic combustion known as a detonation. In older firearms, the propellant was typically...
and explosives
Explosive material
An explosive material, also called an explosive, is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure...
into the capital. These arrest
Arrest
An arrest is the act of depriving a person of his or her liberty usually in relation to the purported investigation and prevention of crime and presenting into the criminal justice system or harm to oneself or others...
s coincided with a serious financial crisis, a worsening drought
Drought
A drought is an extended period of months or years when a region notes a deficiency in its water supply. Generally, this occurs when a region receives consistently below average precipitation. It can have a substantial impact on the ecosystem and agriculture of the affected region...
, bitter government infighting, and civil unrest in the capital. These events convinced Tombalbaye to abandon his policy of national reconciliation. He incarcerated more than 1,000 real or suspected "enemies of the state". In an indication of his growing distrust of the previously secure south, Tombalbaye detained hundreds of southerners and removed two key southern cabinet
Cabinet (government)
A Cabinet is a body of high ranking government officials, typically representing the executive branch. It can also sometimes be referred to as the Council of Ministers, an Executive Council, or an Executive Committee.- Overview :...
ministers
Minister (government)
A minister is a politician who holds significant public office in a national or regional government. Senior ministers are members of the cabinet....
. He also effected a dramatic diplomatic aboutface designed to obtain economic assistance from the Arab world
Arab world
The Arab world refers to Arabic-speaking states, territories and populations in North Africa, Western Asia and elsewhere.The standard definition of the Arab world comprises the 22 states and territories of the Arab League stretching from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Arabian Sea in the...
while undermining FROLINAT. To enhance ties to the Arab world, Tombalbaye broke Chad's relations with Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
in September 1972. A few months later, Tombalbaye secured an initial pledge of 23 billion CFA Franc
CFA franc
The CFA franc is the name of two currencies used in Africa which are guaranteed by the French treasury. The two CFA franc currencies are the West African CFA franc and the Central African CFA franc...
s from Libya. In 1973 other Arab capitals promised aid. In addition, Chad withdrew from the Afro-Malagasy and Mauritian Common Organization (Organisation Commune Africaine, Malgache, et Mauricienne or OCAMM), a moderate alliance of French-speaking African states.
Tombalbaye's strategy to create difficulties for FROLINAT was successful. When Qaddafi began restricting deliveries of military supplies and food to the rebels, fighting for the limited supplies erupted between FROLINAT's First Liberation Army and FAN (at that time also called the Second Liberation Army). The Second Liberation Army lost control of Ennedi and retreated into northern Borkou and Tibesti. In April 1974, however, it struck back by seizing three European hostages, including a French archaeologist
Archaeology
Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
at Bardaï.
By this time, the Tombalbaye presidency was rapidly unraveling, as greater attention focused on the real and suspected threats from within the government. In June 1973, Tombalbaye arrested Malloum, the head of the women's wing of the PPT, and a score of other party officials, mostly from the south. These individuals were held on charges of "political sorcery" in what came to be known as the "Black Sheep Plot" because of their alleged involvement in animal sacrifices. Moreover, when Outel Bono
Outel Bono
Outel Bono was a Chadian medical doctor and politician.He was medical director of the hospital in Chad's capital, Fort-Lamy , in 1963 when he was arrested for plotting against the government of President François Tombalbaye. Condemned to death, his sentence was commuted after a vigorous campaign...
, a widely admired liberal politician, was assassinated 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...
while organizing a new political party in August, many believed that Tombalbaye's government was behind the murder. Also that month, Tombalbaye decided to replace the PPT with a new party, the National Movement for the Cultural and Social Revolution
National Movement for the Cultural and Social Revolution
The National Movement for the Cultural and Social Revolution was a political party in Chad. It was the successor to the Chadian Progressive Party and existed from 1973 to 1975 as the country's sole legal party, under the strict control of the President Ngarta Tombalbaye...
(Mouvement National pour la Révolution Culturelle et Sociale or MNRCS).
To deflect domestic criticism, Tombalbaye embarked on a campaign to promote authenticité, or "Chaditude." This effort was aimed at expunging foreign practices and influences. To shore up his support from Chad's expanding urban elite, Tombalbaye Africanized
Africanization
Africanization or Africanisation has been applied in various contexts, notably in naming and in the composition of staff.-Africanization of names:...
the names of several places (Fort-Lamy and Fort Archambault became N'Djamena and Sarh
Sarh
Sarh is the third largest city in Chad, after N'Djamena and Moundou. It is the capital of Moyen-Chari region and the department of Barh Köh. It lies 350 miles south-east of the capital Ndjamena on the Chari River...
, respectively) and ordered civil servants to use indigenous names in place of their Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an ones; he changed his first name to Ngarta. In addition, his policies induced many foreign missionaries
Mission (Christian)
Christian missionary activities often involve sending individuals and groups , to foreign countries and to places in their own homeland. This has frequently involved not only evangelization , but also humanitarian work, especially among the poor and disadvantaged...
to repatriate. His strident attacks on the French government were also popular. Tombalbaye lashed out specifically at Jacques Foccart
Jacques Foccart
Jacques Foccart was a chief adviser for the government of France on African policy as well as the co-founder of the Gaullist Service d'Action Civique in 1959 with Charles Pasqua, which specialized in covert operations in Africa.From 1960 to 1974, he was the President of France's chief of staff...
, the powerful secretary general to the French Presidency
President of the French Republic
The President of the French Republic colloquially referred to in English as the President of France, is France's elected Head of State....
for African Affairs, who was labeled an "evil genius" and formally condemned in a National Assembly resolution as the source of some "fourteen plots" against the government of Chad.
To restore his sagging support among 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:...
traditionalists in the rural south, Tombalbaye came out in favor of the harsh physical and psychological yondo initiation rites for all southern males between sixteen and fifty, making them compulsory for any non-Muslim seeking admission to the civil service, government, and higher ranks of the military. From mid-1973 to April 1974, an estimated 3,000 southern civil servants, including two cabinet ministers and one colonel, went through the yondo ordeal. Because the rites were perceived as anti-Christian and essentially borrowed from one Sara subgroup, resistance to the process exacerbated antagonisms along clan and religious lines. Therefore, rather than encouraging greater southern support, Tombalbaye's action created disaffection among civil servants, army officers, and students.
The worsening drought in the early 1970s also affected Chad's degenerating political situation. Throughout 1974 international criticism of Chad's handling of drought-relief efforts reached a new peak, as government insensitivity and overt profiteering became obvious.
In response to its economic crisis, the government launched Operation Agriculture, which involved a massive volunteer cotton
Cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....
planting effort on virgin lands. The project increased production somewhat, but at the expense of major economic dislocations and greater southern resentment, particularly from people in cities and towns who were rounded up by the military to "volunteer" for agricultural labor.
By early 1975, many observers believed that Tombalbaye had eroded his two main bases of support - the south and the armed forces. Only intra-Sara divisions and concern over the possible loss of southern influence in government had prevented any well-organized anti-Tombalbaye movement. In addition, throughout the early 1970s Tombalbaye's criticism of the army's mediocre performance in the field had angered the officer corps and dissipated its loyalty. Other military grievances included frequent purges and reshufflings of the top ranks. In March 1975, Tombalbaye ordered the arrest of several senior military officers, as suspects in yet another plot. On April 13, 1975, several units of N'Djamena's 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...
, acting under the initial direction of junior military officers, killed Tombalbaye during a coup
Chadian coup of 1975
The Chadian coup of 1975 was in considerable part generated by the growing distrust of the President of Chad, François Tombalbaye, for the army. This distrust came in part from the Chadian Armed Forces incapacity to deal with the rebellion that was inflaming the Muslim north from when the rebel...
.