Chad 1999

The population of Chad in 1999 was approximately 7.5 million people, with the majority living in rural areas. The economy of Chad in 1999 was largely based on agriculture and livestock, as well as oil production, which had become a major source of revenue since the mid-1990s. Foreign relations during this time were largely focused on its neighbors, particularly its fellow members of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) and the Organization for African Unity (OAU). Politics during this period were dominated by President Idriss Déby, who had come to power in 1990 and remained in office until 2021. The Déby government was marked by political unrest and armed conflict between government forces and rebel groups, resulting in instability throughout much of his tenure. See ethnicityology for Chad in the year of 2018.

Yearbook 1999

Chad 1999

Chad. At the beginning of the year, Chad received about 25,000 refugees who sought refuge from fighting in neighboring Sudan. At the same time, the low-intensity Chadian civil war between the government army and various rebel groups continued. The Movement for Democracy and Justice in Chad, one of the larger rebel groups led by former Defense Minister Youssouf Togoimi, repeatedly claimed during the year that the government army on several fronts in the north succeeded in inflicting heavy losses. As usual, the data was denied from the government.

Visit Countryaah official website to get information about the capital city of Chad. Another rebel group, Chad’s movement for democracy and development, signed a peace deal with the regime in early July. But it turned out that not all of the leaders of the rebel movement accepted the deal. During the latter part of the year, the government also negotiated with Togoimi’s group, and President Idriss Déby visited the conflict area in the north.

  • Also see Abbreviationfinder.org to see the acronym of TCD which stands for Chad and other definitions of this 3-letter abbreviation.

Map of Chad N'Djamena in English

Chad suffered a severe financial setback when oil companies Shell and Elf announced at the end of the year that they were about to withdraw from a planned oil recovery project in southwest Chad. The oil would have been exported by pipeline via Cameroon to the Atlantic coast. The planned oil production was expected to give the country annual income of the equivalent of SEK 850 million, a huge addition to one of the world’s poorest countries. But the project has been criticized by environmental organizations as it would affect forests, river systems and agricultural land in an area where most of Chad’s food is grown.

The delays of the oil project and the continued uprising in the north in December led to the resignation of Prime Minister Nassour Ouado. The new head of government appointed the president his close associate, Nagoum Yamassoum, former Minister of Education and Culture.

At the end of the year, the depleting Chad Lake was flooded by the worst rainfall in several decades, and at least 25,000 people were forced to flee their homes.

History. – After the killing, in April 1975, of the dictator F. Tombalbaye, the coming to power of the army accelerated the fragmentation of the state among the various “warlords”. The new president, gen. F. Malloum, tried to come to terms with the FROLINAT (Front de libération nationale du Tchad, movement that gave voice to the aspirations of the Arab-Islamic peoples of the north), divided on his behalf into factions corresponding to the different tribes and different personalities. An agreement was actually reached in Khartoum (September 1977) with a wing of the Front, the FAN (Forces armées du Nord) of H. Habré, who the following year, after the emanation of a fundamental Charter with the value of a provisional Constitution, became head of the government, with Malloum as head of the state. Malloum and Habré gave conflicting interpretations of their agreements and the confrontation degenerated at the first pretext into open war (February 12, 1979). It was then up to Nigeria to do its utmost for a conciliation. Three subsequent conferences (two in Kano and one in Lagos) ended (August 1979) with the establishment of a Transitional National Unity Government (GUNT) under the presidency of Goukouni Ueddei, a leading exponent of FROLINAT, son of Derdej del Tibesti and head of the formations called FAP (Forces armées populaires).

Nine of the 11 factions that signed the Lagos agreement giving life to GUNT referred to FROLINAT. Having actually come to power, FROLINAT revealed all the contradictions that the common struggle against the central government had somehow covered up. The GUNT also included Habré, who was assigned the Ministry of Defense. The next crisis saw Goukouni and Habré against each other. Strengthened by the legitimacy that the Lagos agreement gave him, as well as the logistical and military assistance of Libya, Goukouni conquered the capital N’djamena in December 1980 and forced Habré to flee. By now the conflict ceased to be between north and south, passing entirely within the Arab-Islamic bloChad

Reflecting the concerns of all African countries, and above all of neighboring countries, the OAU decided to send a “peacekeeping force” to Chad, with soldiers from Niger, Senegal and Zaire. Upon the arrival of the inter-African force, Goukouni asked for and obtained the withdrawal of the Libyans.

Armed with weapons by the United States – I decided to teach Gaddafi a lesson even by bypassing France – Habré resumed the civil war as a “ rebel ” and in June 1982 conquered the capital, without any intervention by the OAU, which recognized him formally as president of Chad. The extreme defense of Goukouni now required the entry of Libya into the conflict: which took place in 1983 but at the cost of an intervention, in favor of Habré, by a French expeditionary force, which stood on the 15th parallel. The country was divided in two and France seemed willing to compromise with Libya, but Habré did not accept any plea bargain, neither with Goukouni nor with Libya, and gradually recovered all the Chadian territory (except for the disputed Aouzou strip, which Libya has occupied since 1973).

The military victory, almost complete in 1987, coincided with a period of recomposition of the internal political front. Goukouni, partially abandoned by Libya, which in turn made relaxing openings, also negotiated his insertion. Habré, after re-establishing diplomatic relations with Libya in October 1988, entered into negotiations for the definition of the status of the Aouzou strip. In December 1989 a referendum approved a new Constitution which gave more powers to the president. Habré, confirmed for another seven years, despite the consent obtained in the political elections of July 1990 (the first free since 1962), was overthrown, at the end of November, by Colonel Idriss Déby (former author of an attempted coup d’etat in the April 1989) head of the Libyan-backed Patriotic Salvation Movement.

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