Zouar is a town in the Tibesti Department

Tibesti Department

Tibesti was until 2008 one of four departments within Bourkou-Ennedi-Tibesti, a region of Chad. Its capital was Bardaï. In 2008 the Bourkou-Ennedi-Tibesti Region was split into three, with Tibesti becoming a separate region under the same name...

 in the BET Region in northern 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...

, in an oasis

Oasis

In geography, an oasis or cienega is an isolated area of vegetation in a desert, typically surrounding a spring or similar water source...

 in the Tibesti Mountains

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...

. The town has an airport

Airport

An airport is a location where aircraft such as fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and blimps take off and land. Aircraft may be stored or maintained at an airport...

 with an unpaved runway.

The seat of 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...

, the highest religious and political authority among the Teda

Teda

The Teda are a Toubou people who live mostly in northern Chad, but is present also in Libya, Niger and Nigeria. They speak Tedaga, a Nilo-Saharan language, and are very close ethnically and culturally with the Daza. They likely number more than 50,000, and are Muslims....

 of the Tibesti, the town came under French control

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...

 in 1917.

After Chad's independence, Zouar played an important role 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,...

 and the Chadian-Libyan conflict, when its control was hotly contended. It was first besieged in 1968 by the FROLINAT

FROLINAT

-Origins:The organization was born as the result of a political union between the leftist Chadian National Union , led by Ibrahim Abatcha, and the General Union of the Children of Chad which was led by Ahmed Hassan Musa. Musa was close to the Muslim Brotherhood and was an Islamist...

 rebels led by Mahamat Ali Taher, and was relieved only by the arrival in August of a French expeditionary force. One of the last strongholds held by the government in the north, it was attacked in June 1977 by 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), forcing the garrison to evacuate.

During the Chadian-Libyan conflict, a Libyan garrison was installed, only to be expelled when the former pro-Libyan FAP rebelled in the Tibesti in August 1986; but the town was reconquered with the Libyan counter-offensive in December. In January 1987 the Chadian army once and for all freed Zouar.

In October 1998, with the foundation of the insurgent Movement for Democracy and Justice in Chad

Movement for Democracy and Justice in Chad

Movement for Democracy and Justice in Chad is a Chadian rebel group that tried to oust the government of the current Chadian president Idriss Déby from October 1998-2003...

 (MDJT), civil war has erupted again in the north. The MDJT commander, Youssouf Togoimi

Youssouf Togoïmi

Youssouf Togoïmi was a leading Chadian politician who served in the government under President Idriss Déby but subsequently led a rebel group, the Movement for Democracy and Justice in Chad , against Déby....

, announced in June 1999 that his forces were in a position to take Zouar and 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....

, but preferred to wait for the government troops to surrender. On 18 March 2006 the MDJT started besieging the town.

Zouar is also the birthplace of the former Head of State

Heads of state of Chad

-List of Heads of State of Chad:-Affiliations:-External links:**...

 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:...

 and of the MDJT founder Youssouf Togoimi, respectively born in 1944 and 1953.

The town is served by Zouar Airport

Zouar Airport

Zouar Airport is an airport serving Zouar in Chad....

.