Chadian Civil War ( 2005 – 10 ) The civil war in Chad began in December 2005 . Since its independence from France in 1960 , Chad has been swamped by the civil war between the Arab - Muslims of the north and the Sub - Saharan - Christians of the south . As a result , leadership and presidency in Chad drifted back and forth between the Christian southerners and Muslim northerners . When one side was in power , the other side usually started a revolutionary war to counter it . France , the former occupying imperial power , and Chad ' s northern neighbour Libya have both become involved at various times throughout the civil war . By the mid - 1990s the civil war had somewhat stabilised , and in 1996 Idriss Déby , a northerner , was confirmed president in Chad ' s first democratic election . In 1998 an armed rebellion began in the north , led by President Déby ' s former defence chief , Youssouf Togoimi . A Libyan peace deal in 2002 failed to put an end to the fighting . In 2003 , conflict in the neighbouring Darfur region in Sudan leaked across the border into Chad . Refugees from Sudan were joined by Chadian civilians who were trying to escape rebel violence and eventually filled the camps . It was clear that Chad ' s rebels received weapons and assistance from the government of Sudan . At the same time , Sudan ' s rebels got help from Chad ' s government . In February 2008 , three rebel groups joined forces and launched an attack on Chad ' s capital , N ' Djamena . After launching an assault that failed to seize the presidential palace , the attack was decisively repulsed . France sent in troops to shore up the government . Many of the rebels were former allies of President Idriss Déby . They accused him of corruption towards members of his own tribe . Causes . The battle at the start of December 2005 in the Chadian capital N ' djamena came as no surprise . For the years prior to the eruption , the Sudanese government was trying to overthrow the Chadian president , Idriss Déby , using Chadian rebels as middle men . The three armed groups involved in one of the most recent attacks in 2008 were all extensively armed by Sudanese security forces , which had the clear intent of cutting off the support that Déby was giving to the rebels in Darfur , especially the Justice and Equality Movement ( JEM ) , which had been on the offensive in Darfur . The current war in Chad is a result of four distinct forces . For one , the war appeared to be a continuation of the conflicts of Darfur and Chad , which include the competition for power and land . Secondly , there was an internal Chadian conflict . Déby reverted to a one - man military rule after a hopeful broadening of the base of his regime in the late 1990s which was coupled by the growth of civil politics in N ' djamena . Déby relied heavily on a close - knit group of kinsmen and on claiming the alloted government finances for his own agenda , distributing aid in return for civilian loyalty . Third is Khartoum ' s ( capital of Sudan ) strategy for managing security within its border , which include treating the weak surrounding states as merely extensions of its internal limits . The Sudan security helped bring Déby to power in 1990 as part of their responsibility that also saw it engage militarily in Eritrea , Ethiopia , Uganda , Democratic Republic of Congo , and Central African Republic over the military decade . In the same way that Khartoum used a combination of extortion and retribution to control its provincial elites in Darfur , it uses the same tools to influence its trans - border limits . Furthermore , the regional competition for dominance through an immense area of central Africa has rarely been governed by state authority . This boondock includes Chad , , and northern DRC , as well as the areas of Tripoli , Sudan , Kinshasa , Kigali , Kampala , and even Asmara are competing for influence across this area , as well as Khartoum . Outcome . The implementation of the reforms promised in an August 2007 agreement with opposition parties was slow and uneven . Throughout the country , government forces continued to arbitrarily arrest and detain civilians and suspected rebels , often on the basis of ethnicity , and subject them to cruel and unusual punishment . Chad ' s prison conditions are among the harshest on the African continent . Weak institutions of justice contributed to a culture of exemption . The government has not investigated or prosecuted serious abuses against civilians , such as killings and rapes by government security forces and rebels following clashes at Am Dam in May 2009 . More than 250 , 000 Sudanese refugees and 168 , 000 Chadian displaced people live in camps and elsewhere in eastern Chad . In April , approximately 5 , 000 new Sudanese refugees arrived from West Darfur , following renewed fighting there between the Sudanese rebel group Justice and Equality Movement ( JEM ) and Sudanese government forces . Belligerents . The conflict involved Chadian government forces and several Chadian rebel groups . These include the United Front for Democratic Change , United Forces for Development and Democracy , Gathering of Forces for Change and the National Accord of Chad . The conflict has also involved the Janjaweed , while Sudan allegedly supported the rebels , while Libya mediated in the conflict , as well as diplomats from other countries . Peace process . Withdrawal of the United Nations . In January 2009 , the government of Chad requested that the United Nations begin the process of withdrawing the peacekeeping mission in eastern Chad . The Chad government criticized the UN mission ' s slow deployment , uneven record of success , and improvements in the security situation as reasons for its decision . In May 2009 , the UN revised the mission ' s mandate and authorized its gradual drawdown and closure by the end of the year , and effectively shifted full responsibility for the protection of civilians , including displaced populations and refugees from Darfur , to the Chadian security forces . Harmony between Chad and Sudan . An agreement for the restoration of harmony between Chad and Sudan , signed January 15 , 2010 , marked the end of a five - year war . The fix in relations led to the Chadian rebels from Sudan returning home , the opening of the border between the two countries after seven years of closure , and the deployment of a joint force to secure the border . President Idriss Déby visited Khartoum , in February for the first time in six years ; and in July , Chad , a state party to the International Criminal Court ( ICC ) , hosted Sudanese President Omar al - Bashir , earning the doubtful claim of being the first ICC member state to harbor a suspect from the court . Following the UN decision to draw down the mission by the end of 2010 , representatives of UN agencies formed a working group with the Chadian government to improve security for humanitarian groups in eastern Chad . The plan includes consolidation of the Chadian Integrated Security Detachment ( DIS ) , a component of MINURCAT consisting of Chadian police forces trained by the UN , which provide security in and around the refugee camps . However , the plans do not clearly address the security concerns of refugees , internally displaced persons ( IDPs ) , or the local population .