UN General Assembly
1982

the task of preparing free elections and completing the work of national reconciliation. The President of that Government would therefore have no personal powers. In flagrant violation of the provisions of the Lagos agreement, a neighboring country and other foreign Powers openly intervened in our affairs. Despite our determination to avoid war and in spite of the mediation offered by eminent national and foreign personalities, certain factions, feeling strong because of their external support, unleashed the war of 21 March. By attacking elements of the Armed Forces of the North, the nucleus of the integrated national army envisaged in the Lagos agreement, that coalition brought about the start of another war-one which was certainly the deadliest and the longest that our people has had to endure. After nine months of national resistance, in the face of what became a plot to recolonize Chad, which met with a staunch resistance with the exclusive support of our people, on 15 December 1980 we undertook tactical withdrawal in order to spare our people from genocide and to deal in an