FROLINAT

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National Liberation Front of Chad
جبهة التحرير الوطنية تشاد
Libyan Arab Jamahiriya  North Korea
Opponents	Chad

FROLINAT (French: Front de libération nationale du Tchad; English: National Liberation Front of Chad) was an insurgent rebel group active in Chad between 1966 and 1993.

Origins

The organization was a result of the political union between the

Abatcha was proclaimed Secretary-General, while another cadre of the UNT, Abou Bakar Djalabou, was designated to lead the delegation that would 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 to the southern expatriates in the Central African Republic.^[4]

The movement's official program, also approved at the Nyala congress, proclaimed the rejection of secession, confessional politics, and ethnic discrimination, and stated 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 sought. The economic objectives were quite vague: 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."^[5]

As the FROLINAT was originally composed of few members, it relied on the fact that the Chadian state was already in disarray; the southern-dominated government despised and bypassed 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 governments were held by non-Muslim southerners. To cite Sam Nolutschungu, "everyone knew that the regime was corrupt, cruel, arbitrary, and absurd."^[6]

This discontent already existed in November 1965 after the bloody Mangalmé riots and gave way to a number of loosely-knitted peasant revolts in central and eastern Chad, that rapidly spread from Mangalmé and nearby Batha Prefecture to Ouaddaï and Salamat prefectures, where in February 1967 the prefect and his deputy were killed.

In the BET Prefecture of northern Chad, by 1965 unrest had started expanding. So when Abatcha, with seven North Korean trained companions, penetrated Eastern Chad in November 1966, he could count on a territory that was already in full revolt.^[7]

Musa and the most conservative elements of the FLT pulled out of the FROLINAT at the end on 1966, but a dualism was always present between the socialist, anti-imperialist, even Pan-African UNT element and the more conservative and regionalist UGFT tradition. Another element of division consisted in the dualism between the two original areas of the rebellion, Kanem and the East: Kanem mainly attracted support from Chadians who lived in Egypt and the Central African Republic, the east mainly from Sudan.^[5]

The combined forces of the two groups 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

Abatcha's death did not make the situation easier for the government, nor did the formation in 1969 of two separate FROLINAT armies. The First Liberation Army of the FROLINAT, la Première Armée, a loose coalition of warlords active mainly in central Chad, engaged in hit-and-run tactics, a faction-ridden force whose groups often fought among themselves and engaged in banditry. The Second Liberation Army, la Deuxième Armée, which operated in the north, and was composed mainly by Toubou. After the death of Mohammed Taher in 1969 the Second Army came under the control of Goukouni Oueddei.^[8]

These divisions did not much help the Chadian government; Tombalbaye's authority in the central and northern parts of the country was limited to a patchwork of urban centers, often connected only by air.

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

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 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 held a reconciliation conference at Kano in March 1979. New parties with little or no roots in Chad were formed for 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

But the cohesion of the GUNT did not much survive their departure: on March 22, 1980, the Second Battle of N'Djamena exploded 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

Meanwhile, Habré was reorganizing his forces in the east with Sudanese help, and had begun campaigning, taking several cities. He 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 Oum Hadjer, Ati and Faya-Largeau. The OUA demanded^{[clarification needed]} in February 1982, but its request was ignored. By May the GUNT was stationed on the defensive in the capital, when Kamougué pulled back 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 Faya-Largeau on June 25, and with it a third of the country; an attack on the capital appeared imminent, but it never happened, mainly due to France's strong support of Habré. Great amounts of modern military equipment were provided to him by France and other western countries, giving him an opening to retake Faya-Largeau on July 30. Libya reacted by launching a massive counter-offensive composed almost entirely of Libyan regular troops. Habré suffered a crushing defeat on August 10, losing thousands 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.

References

• ISBN 0-8139-1628-3
  .
• "A Country Study: Chad". Library of Congress Country Studies. 1990.
• Fearon, James; Laitan, David (2006). "Chad - Random Narratives" (PDF). Ethnicity, Insurgency and Civil War. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-07-12. Retrieved 2006-07-22.
• Brachet, Julien; Scheele, Judith (2019). The Value of Disorder : Autonomy, Prosperity, and Plunder in the Chadian Sahara. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  ISBN 9781108566315
  .

• Armed Movements in Chad