Chad, Civil war( 1979-1982)

But the new military leaders were unable to retain for long the popularity that they had gained through their overthrow of Tombalbaye. General Felix Malloum proved himself unable to cope with the situation and at the end decided his only chance was in co-opting some of the rebels. In 1978 he allied himself with the insurgent leader Hissene Habre, who entered the government as prime minister.

Civil War (1979-82)

Internal dissent within the Government led Prime Minister Habre to send hi forces against Malloum's national army in the capital in February 1979. Malloum was ousted from the presidency , but resulting civil war amongst the 11 emergent factions was so widespread that it rendered the central government largely irrelevnt. At that point, other African Govt. decided to intervene.

A series of four international conferences held first under Nigerian and then Organisation of African Unity (OAU) sponsorship attempted to bring the Chadian factions together.At the fourth conference held in Lagos,Nigeria,in Aug. 1979, the Lagos accord was signed.Goukouni's Oueddei, a northerner, became president, a southerner Col.Kamougue, vice-president, and Habre, Minister of defence. In 1981, an agreement ewas made between Chad and Libyato work for the realisation of complete unity.

The Habre era (1982-90)

Libya's partial withdrawal to the Aozou strip in northern Chad cleared the way for Habre's forces to enter N'Djamena in june.

Habre continued to face armed opposition on various fronts, and was brutal in his repression of suspected opponents of suspected opponents, massacring and torturingmany during his rule.

Now Habre could not reconcile with all his opponents. In the late 80'sthere came another Deby, one of Habre's leading general and a Zaghawa, gradually rose to power. He mounted a Zaghawa-supported series of attacks on Habre. In Dec. 1990, with Libyan assistance and no opposition from French troops stationed inChad , Deby's forces successfully marched on N'Djamena. After 3 months of provisional Govt. Deby's patriotic SalvationMovement approved a national charter on Feb. 1991, with Deby as president.Deby was not welcomed rather a demand for plurastic democratic regime came up for discussion.