Information About ™Frolinat |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT FROLINAT | |
| chadian-libyan conflict | |
| history of chad | |
| rebel militia groups | |
| rebellions in africa | |
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ORIGINS The organization was born as the result of a Political union between the Leftist Chadian National Union (UNT), led by Ibrahim Abatcha , and the General Union of the Children of Chad (''Union Générale des Fils du Tchad'' or UGFT) which was led by Ahmed Hassan Musa . Musa was close to the Muslim Brotherhood and was an Islamist . The UGFT remained autonomous within the new group under the banner of the Liberation Front Of Chad (''Front de Libération du Tchad'' or FLT). The union was agreed at the Nyala Congress, in Sudan , between June 19 and June 22 of 1966 . The group's flag was also approved at the same congress. With the forces of both groups combined, the first FROLINAT army soon began to work in the mid-east of the country, and by March of 1968 , a second army had been formed, operating in the area known as BET ( Borkou-Ennedi-Tibesti ). In February of 1967 the revolt had spread out to the Ouaddaï and Salamat Prefectures where the Prefect and his associate were killed. DISSENSIONS In February 1968 , Abatcha was killed in combat and a battle for succession ensued. Two candidates were assassinated. Followers of a third candidate, Abba Sidick (a moderate lef-wing Intellectual and former minister) based themselves in Algiers and Tripoli , while Musa's went to Khartoum . In August 1968 , some Toubou factions splintered from the Nomad National Guard and joined FROLINAT and by 1969 these factions controlled the cities of Faya-Largeau , Fada , Bardaï and Ounianga Kebir . In 1970 Abba Sidick was chosen as General-Secretary of the group, which in theory still united all the insurgents; but in reality the Liberation Front of Chad had already left FROLINAT, and when Siddick made a call for the union of the different groups he was opposed by Goukouni Oueddei , son of the tribal chief (''derdre'' of the Toubou ) Oueddei Kichidemi and the military leader Hissène Habré , who commanded the second army of FROLINAT, renamed Command Council Of The Armed Forces Of The North (''Conseil de Commandement des Forces Armeés du Nord'' or CCFAN) in February 1972 . Only the first army of the FROLINAT, operating in eastern and centre-eastern Chad, remained loyal to Siddick. Another armed faction that emerged was the Volcan Army , built by Muhammad Baghlani , a FROLINAT group with an Islamist tendency. In 1969 Chadian President , François Tombalbaye , appealed to France for help. As a result, a French mission arrived with ample powers to reform the army and the civil service and to recommend the abolition of unpopular laws and taxes. Also following their recommendations, the judicial powers of traditional Muslim rulers were restored. Another conciliatory move was the liberation in 1971 of many political prisoners and the formation of a more balanced government, including many more northerners than before. The result of these moves was positive; the insurgents were confined to the Tibesti and the French started retiring their troops, which had played a key role in the years 1969–1971. Certain to have defeated the FROLINAT, Tombalbaye left the reforms in the summer of 1971 and accused some of the recently freed political prisoners of having attempted a '' Coup D'état '' with the help of Libya . In reaction Libyan president Muammar Al-Qaddafi officially recognized Abba Siddick's FROLINAT, offering him economic and logistic support. The Libyans then began to occupy the Aouzou Strip . The manifestations of student rioting in November 1971 caused the destitution of the Chadian Chief Of Staff , General Jacques Doumro; his position was occupied by Colonel Félix Malloum . In 1972 Tombalbaye jailed hundreds of political opponents and to block his enemies initiated a policy of gestures towards Libya and France. Libya reduced its support for Siddick and infighting exploded between the first army of the FROLINAT and Habré's FAN. The first army won assuming control of Ennedi , while the FAN retired to the Borkou and Tibesti . The kidnapping at Bardaï of a French Archaeologist by Habré's forces ('' Affaire Claustre '') clouded the relations of the latter with France (April 1974 ). In June of on April 13 , 1975 . He was succeeded by Félix Malloum as head of the Supreme Military Council (CSM). The new government included many northerners, but southerners retained a majority. Notwithstanding some popular measures, the government could not satisfy the people's demands. The capital saw new student strikes and the trade unions were suspended. In April 1976 there was an unfruitful attempt to kill Malloum, and in March 1977 a mutiny by units army in the capital was suppressed by the execution of its ringleaders. After the death of Tombalbaye, FROLINAT had continued its dismemberment. A group active in the east, the FLT, entered in the new government of N'Djamena in July. Oueddei Kichidemi returned from his exile in Libya in the summer of 1975; his son Goukouni Oueddei remained there instead. Habré and Goukouni had formed the CCFAN with the design to unite all the northern elements of the FROLINAT under their banner, but now the situation was heavily embroiled by the ''affair Claustre'', which brought France to negotiate directly with the rebels and not sustain Tombalbaye's successor, Malloum, who reacted by asking the 1,500 French troops in Chad to leave the country. GOUKOUNI VS. HABRé In 1976 and 1977 Libya supported active to the FROLINAT. Faya-Largeau was besieged twice in 1976 and Bardaï was conquered in June 1977 by Habré. The question of Libyan support caused a rupture between Goukouni and Habré, both Toubou s but of traditionally opposed clans, whom circumstances had made allies in 1971. Habré opposed the Libyan plans of annexation of the Aozou Strip , while Goukouni was against the Claustre kidnapping. In 1976 Habré, commanding only a minority of the CCFAN, broke away from the main organization with a few hundred followers and assumed his headquarters in the Batha and Biltine Prefectures , founding the Armed Forces Of The North (FAN). Goukouni, along with the rest of the forces, kept the name CCFAN and gave the hostages to the French in January 1977. In September 1977 Habré started negotiating an alliance with the Malloum and the Military Supreme Council for the formation of a National Unity Government , that was created in August 1978 with Malloum as president and Habré as Prime minister. At the same time Goukouni consolidated his positions in the north, united most of the insurgent formations, including the first army of the FROLINAT and the majority of the CCFAN. All these formations united under the banner of the newly formed People's Armed Forces (FAP), leaded by Goukouni, who conquered Faya-Largeau in February 1979, assuming control of half the Chadian territory. His advance towards the capital seemed unstoppable, and only the intervention of the French army made it possible to block him at Ati , less than 300 miles north of N'Djamena. In 1979 the national unity government was finished. Habré and Malloum confronted each other in the capital and in February Habré was left in control, while Chadian Armed Forces (FAT) retired itself towards the south. Shortly before another FROLINAT group was had been formed in January 1978 as the Third Liberation Army of the FROLINAT (later called Popular Movement For The Liberation Of Chad , or MPLT), led by Aboubakar Abdel Rahmane , once an ally of Goukouni; this group defeated the government's forces in the west. The First Liberation Army of the FROLINAT reassumed its autonomy, taking control of the eastern prefectures of Ouaddaï and Biltine . In the south the Chadian Armed Forces , the former national army, was reorganized by the lieutenant Wadel Abdelkader Kamougué , former head of Malloum's '' Gendarmerie '', who established in May 1979 the south of the country a government called Permanent Committee. Goukouni took advantage of such a chaotic situation and appeared in N'Djamena before Habré had obtained complete control, and took the capital. THE GUNT AND ITS FAILURE International moves were made to put an end to the civil war. Nigeria kept in March 1979 at Kano a reconciliation conference. New parties with little or none roots in Chad were formed to be present at this conference, like the Popular Front For The Liberation Of Chad (FPLT), headed by Awad Muktar Nasser, a force sustained by Sudan; or the South Front , founded in April 1979, a Muslim group composed of a few dozens of fighters commanded by the Sudan ese police Sergeant (of Chadian origin) Hadjaro Al-Senousi , who boasted to lead an "original FROLINAT", and to have no less than 3,000 men ready in Sudan. Similar to these was in Sudan a so-called "Government in exile of the Islamic republic of Chad". But only four forces were at the end invited at Kano I: these were the FAN, the FAP, Malloum for the national government, and, more surprisingly, the small MPLT, supported by Nigeria. On the basis of the Kano Accord a national unity government was formed on April 29, 1979, with Goukouni as Interior Minister , Habré at the Defence , the general Negue Djogo vice-president (who represented the south, but had broken with Kamougué). The president was Lol Mohamed Shawa , a ''protegé'' of Habré recommended by Nigeria. Libya protested against these arrangements because they excluded Ahmat Acyl , who had succeeded Baghlani as commander of the Volcan Army aftr the death of the latter in a flight accident. As a result Acyl and other pro-Libyan elements formed the Front for Joint Provisional Action (''Front d'Action Commune Provisoire'' or FACP) to oppose the new government (it was renamed a month later Revolutionary Democratic Council ). Weeks later, to settle these dissensions, another peace conference was celebrated May in the Nigerian city of Lagos . In summer yet a new government was formed, the Transitional Government Of National Unity (GUNT), after a third conference held in July at Lagos which proclaimed Goukouni president, Kamougué vice-president and Habré Defence minister. As a result, by September the French troops had left almost completely the country. But the cohesion of the GUNT did not much surrvive their departure: on and cut Habré's supply lines with Sudan. On June 15 , 1980, Chad and Libya signed a treaty of mutual defence. In virtue of this agreement the forces of Kamougué and Goukouni received tanks, airplanes and other materials, and crushed the forces of Habré who fled to Cameroon while his men in the capital and the east of the country were disarmed. In 1981 the governments of Chad and Libya announced their intention to form a single country. But French increasing support for Goukouni prepared what happened on October 29 , 1981, when the GUNT's president asked Libyan troops to leave the country. A multi-national contingent of Africa n peace-keepers was to be sent, but only small Nigerian, Senegal ese and Zairian forces arrived. Libya's president, Qaddafi, accepted to retire Libyan soldiers in exchange for being chosen for the presidency of the Organisation Of African Unity (OUA), and a year was fixed for completing the withdrawal of all the Libyans from Chad. HABRé ASCENDS TO POWER In the meanwhile, Habré was reorganizing his forces in the east with Sudanese help, and had started campaigning taking several cities, and controlled part of the prefectures of Ouaddaï and Biltine. In December the FAN, convinced that they could not seize Libyan materials, passed west and seized Ourn Hadjer , Ati and Faya-Largeau. The OUA demanded in February 1982 , but its request was ignored. By May the GUNT was stationed on the defensive in the capital, when Kamougué retired his forces to crush a revolt that had exploded in the south. Habré didn't loose this opportunity, and on June 7 , 1982, he conquered the capital almost without opposition, while Goukouni escaped to Cameroon. On June 19 Habré formed a State Council as new national government, and on October 21 he proclaimed himself President and nominated a new government. Goukouni and his followers regrouped in the north and obtained the support of Libya, which caused Habré to reclaim the Aouzou Strip which had been annexed by Libya. On October 28 Goukouni allied eight of the eleven tendencies represented in the GUNT and formed the National Government for Peace in Chad (GNPT) and the Liberation Armed Forces (FAL), both headed by him. The FAL's first goal was to capture Faya-Largeau, which was attacked in January 1983 ; Habré sent his forces to defend the town, but they were defeated on February 20 . Notwithstanding this, Faya-Largeau remained in Habré's hands. Goukouni reported some other victories in the north, but in the meanwhile Habré was being given abundant help by France and the west to counter the Libyan-supported Goukouni. In March 1983 Chad requested the a crushing defeat, losing thousand of soldiers and falling back 200km to the south. On November 18 1986 the GUNT was reconstituted under the direction of Habré and with participation of Goukouni and Kamougué. In 1989 opposition groups to Habré's rule present in Sudan, under the command of Idriss Déby , formed the Patriotic Salvation Movement (MPS) and initiated a new phase of the civil war. After conquering Abéché , in December 1990 they entered in the capital. Habré was forced once again to escape, but a few months later attempted from September 1991 to January 1992 a counter-offensive that proved unsuccessful. Finally a national conference attended by all the parties and guerrilla forces took place between January 15 and April 6 1993 , that culminated with the formation of a High Transitional Council under the presidency of Déby. The FROLINAT, of which Goukouni was still nominally the head, dissolved itself on January 14 , 1993. EXTERNAL LINKS |
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