FROLINAT FROLINAT ( ; ) is an insurgent rebel group that was active in Chad between 1966 and 1993 . 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 ( FLT ) . The union was agreed at the Nyala Congress , in Sudan , between June 19 and June 22 of 1966 . The group ' s flag was approved at the same congress . Secretary - general was proclaimed Abatcha , while another cadre of the UNT , Abou Bakar Djalabou , was designed to lead the delegation that was to represent the movement abroad . A committee was also selected at the congress , composed of thirty members taken equally from the UNT and the FLT . The front was composed exclusively by Muslim northerners , and there was to be no attempt to create a link with the Southern expatriates in the Central African Republic . The movement ' s official program , also approved at the Nyala congress , proclaimed the rejection of secession , confessional politics and ethnic discrimination , and that neocolonialism should be fought in order to " regain the total national independence of our fatherland " . A coalition government , national and democratic , was to be formed , and all political prisoners freed . All foreign troops were to leave , and support was to be given to national liberation movements , and a foreign policy of positive neutrality searched . Quite vague were the economic objectives : wages would be raised , arbitrary taxes abolished and the land given to the tillers . In conclusion , " the document was so vague and so general it could have been written for any country under the sun . " While the FROLINAT was originally composed of few members , it could count on the fact that the Chadian state was already in disarray ; the southern - dominated government despised and bypassed the Muslim traditional leaders , and already in 1963 the most important Northern politicians had been arrested , and all important positions in the Chadian Armed Forces and in the local administration was kept by non - Muslim Southerners . To cite Sam Nolutschungu , " everyone knew that the regime was corrupt , cruel , arbitrary , and absurd . " This miscontent generated already in November 1965 the bloody Mangalmé riots , that gave way to a number of loosely knitted peasant revolts in central and eastern Chad , that from Mangalmé and nearby Batha Prefecture , rapidly spread to Ouaddaï and Salamat prefectures , where in February 1967 the prefect and his deputy were killed . In northern Chad , in the BET Prefecture , also in 1965 unrest had started expanding . So Abatcha , when with seven North Korean trained companions , penetrated in Eastern Chad in November 1966 , could count on a territory that was already in full revolt . Musa and the most conservative elements of the FLT pulled out of the FROLINAT already at the end on 1966 , but a dualism was always to remain between the socialist , anti - imperialist , even Pan - African UNT element and more the conservative and regionalist UGFT tradition . Another element of division consisted in the dualism between the two originary areas of the rebellion , that is Kanem and the East : the first region mainly attracting support from Chadians living in Egypt and the Central African Republic , the second mainly from Sudan . With the forces of both groups combined began in the same year to operate in the mid - east of the country , under the direct command of Abatcha . Shortly after , in March 1968 , a lieutenant of Abatcha , Mohammed Taher , instigated a mutiny by the Daza Toubou of the Nomad and National Guard ( GNN ) of Aozou , that was evacuated by the national army in September . Taher had already recruited militants among the Teda Toubou in the Borkou , and shortly after the Aozou mutiny obtained the support of Goukouni Oueddei , an influential figure among the Teda of the Tibesti and son of the " derde " of the Toubou , Oueddei Kichidemi . This extended the insurgency to the north and Toubou nomads , adding a new element of complexity to the rebellion and bringing in the support to the movement of the Chadians living in Libya , and especially the students of the Islamic University of Bayda . Dissensions . On February 11 , 1968 Abatcha was killed in combat and a battle for succession ensued , in which two candidates were assassinated and a third was forced to escape to Sudan . At the end had emerged victorious Abba Sidick , a moderate left - wing intellectual and former minister of Tombalbaye , who was made in 1970 new secretary - general of the FROLINAT , establishing the headquarters of the organization in Tripoli . In the meanwhile , Abatcha ' s death did not easy the situation for the government , nor did the formation in 1969 of two separate FROLINAT armies . These were the First Liberation Army of the FROLINAT , or " la Première Armée " , a loose coalition of warlords engaged in hit - and - run tactics , that was a faction - ridden force whose groups often fought among themselves and engaged in banditry , active mainly in central Chad ; and the Second Liberation Army , or " la Deuxième Armée " , which operated in the north , and was composed mainly by Toubou . This last force after the death of Mohammed Taher in 1969 came under the control of Goukouni Oueddei . These divisions did not help much the Chadian government ; Tombalbaye ' s authority in the central and northern parts of the country limited itself to a patchwork of urban centers , often connected only by air . This forced the Chadian President to ask in 1968 for French intervention , on the ground of military accords between the two countries . The French President Charles de Gaulle accepted in 1969 , starting military intervention on April 14 with Opération Bison . When Siddick made in 1971 a call for the union of the different groups he was opposed by Goukouni Oueddei and Hissène Habré , who commanded the Second Liberation Army of the 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 - Gaddafi 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 , Françoise Claustre , by Habré ' s forces clouded the relations of the latter with France ( April 1974 ) . In June 1973 Tombalbaye jailed his Chief of Staff General Malloum . A political opponent , the liberal Outel Bono , was on the verge of forming a new political party when he was assassinated in Paris and Tombalbaye was accused of the crime . The president lost support within his party , the Chadian Progressive Party ( PPT ) , causing Tombalbaye to replace it with a new one , the National Movement for the Cultural and Social Revolution ( MNRCS ) , and to start an Africanization campaign . The colonial names of some cities were changed with autochthonous names : Fort - Lamy became N ' Djamena , Fort - Archambault became Sarh , among others . He himself changed his name from François to Ngarta . An element of this Africanization was the introduction of " yondo " initiation rites proper of the Sara ( his ethnic group ) for all those who wanted to obtain positions in the civil service and the army , rites that were seen as anti - Christian . This , with forced " voluntary " mobilization of the population in agricultural campaigns , mined his support in the south . He also lost the support of the army by arresting many young officers whom he accused of planning a coup : as a result , Tombalbaye was killed and overthrown by a coup 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 unsuccessful 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 ) , led 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 Sudanese 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 Mahamat Choua , 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 after 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 survive their departure : on March 22 , 1980 , a new battle exploded in N ' Djamena among Goukouni and Habré ' s forces . A few ceasefire were negotiated , but none resisted . In the meanwhile other warlords entered in the fray : Kamougué sided with Goukouni , Acyl with Habré , leaving the city divided in two with the northern part kept by Goukouni and the southern by Habré , who lost now the Defence ministry . The fighting extended to other parts of the country . The forces of Goukouni took Faya - Largeau 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 African peace - keepers was to be sent , but only small Nigerian , Senegalese 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 lose 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 United Nations the recognition of Chadian sovereignty over the Aozou Strip , and posed the case of the Libyan occupation to the International Court of Justice of The Hague . But the FAL conquered on June 25 Faya - Largeau , and with it a third of the country ; an attack on the capital appeared imminent , but it never happened also for France ' s strong support of Habré ; great amounts of modern military equipment were provided to him by France and other western countries , giving him the possibility to retake Faya - Largeau on July 30 . Libya reacted by launching a massive counter - offensive composed almost entirely by Libyan regular troops : Habré was inflicted on August 10 a crushing defeat , losing thousand of soldiers and falling back 200 km 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 .