SUMMARY
The Republic of Chad became independent from France in 1960 through a process of peaceful disassociation and François Tombalbaye became the country’s first president. Tombalbaye, a southerner from the Sara ethnic group, ruled Chad with an autocratic style under which he imposed a single party system based upon ethnic belonging. In 1975 Tombalbaye was killed in a military coup and General Félix Mallum (also a southerner) became Chad’s new leader. In 1982, Hissein Habré, a northerner from the Toubou ethnic group, supported by USA and Egypt, took power in Chad. The Habré administration turned into a corrupt and violent dictatorship that used death squads and mass killings to stay in power. A commission reported that 20 000 had been killed by his regime until he was overthrown in December 1990. The man who ousted him was Idriss Déby, a former military commander who with support from Sudan took the same route to power as Habré had, starting from safe havens in Darfur.
Pressured by France and other western powers Déby established a multi-party system and became elected president in 1996. However, the election was not deemed free and fair. Although he took some steps in a democratic direction Déby has mostly used the same measures as his predecessors to stay in power: military prowess and external backing. His position has been strengthened by military co-operation with France and oil revenues. In addition to this Déby has changed the constitution in Chad and fixed elections to remain in power. Moreover, Déby relies on a very narrow circle of kinsmen and distributes state finance to certain persons for loyalty.
Under Déby’s regime it is the Chadian army, and especially the presidential guard, that has carried out almost all of the one-sided killings. Most often these deliberate attacks against civilians have an ethnic dimension, since people belonging to the same ethnic group as any of the rebel groups are the main target.
On 11 April 2021, the day of the Chadian presidential elections, FACT (Front pour l’Alternance et la Concorde au Tchad: Front for Change and Concord in Chad) launched an attack on Chad which led to clashes between the rebel group and the Chadian army, commanded by Deby. On 19 April, results of the election showed that Deby won the election for the sixth consecutive terms. However, the following day, authorities announced the death of Deby from his wounds sustained during clashes against FACT.
Following the death of Deby, the army formed a Transitional Military Council (TMC) which dissolved the government, took over the power and declared the deceased President’s son, Mahamat Deby Itno, as the interim president.
The Government of Chad has been involved in the interstate, intrastate, and one-sided categories of UCDP organised violence.
