Senior army officers overthrew and killed President François (N’Garta) Tombalbaye, ending the First Republic. A Supreme Military Council took power, marking the start of a long period of coup-linked political instability.
Following the 1975 coup, Félix Malloum emerged as the key junta figure (chair of the Supreme Military Council), signaling a consolidation of military rule that struggled to contain the widening civil war.
Eleven faction representatives signed the Lagos Accord, laying out the process to create a Transitional Government of National Unity (GUNT). The agreement aimed to end multi-faction fighting but instead produced a fragile power-sharing framework.
The GUNT was invested later in 1979, with Goukouni Oueddei chosen as president and Hissène Habré given a key security portfolio. The arrangement institutionalized factional balance but left armed groups intact.
Hissène Habré’s loyalists overthrew the GUNT government led by Goukouni Oueddei, shifting Chad into a new phase of authoritarian rule centered on Habré’s security apparatus and military control of the capital.
Habré founded the National Union for Independence and Revolution (UNIR) to formalize one-party dominance, consolidating power around the presidency and tying political participation to loyalty during wartime governance.
France began Operation Épervier as Libya’s renewed offensive threatened Chad; French forces and airpower helped deter further advances and reinforced the de facto partition line in the conflict with Libya and allied Chadian factions.
Chad’s FANT defeated Libyan forces at Fada, a turning point in the ‘Toyota War’ phase of the Chadian–Libyan conflict. The victory showcased highly mobile tactics using pickup trucks and anti-tank weapons.
Idriss Déby’s Patriotic Salvation Movement (MPS) entered N’Djamena and ousted President Hissène Habré, inaugurating the Déby era. The takeover became a foundational event later commemorated as a national holiday.
A broad-based National Conference (mid-January to early April 1993) debated Chad’s political future and adopted reform resolutions, including human-rights protections and calls for accountability—key steps in the attempted transition from military rule.
Voters approved a new constitution intended to replace the transitional charter. The referendum established the constitutional framework under Déby that would later be revised to expand presidential power.
Chad held its first multiparty presidential election, with a second round later in 1996. Déby won, translating military control into electoral legitimacy amid significant reported irregularities and intimidation.
A constitutional referendum approved amendments including removal of the two-term limit for the presidency, enabling Déby to seek additional terms and deepening disputes over democratic backsliding.
Rebel forces launched a rapid assault on the capital aimed at toppling Déby. Government forces repelled the attack, highlighting how cross-border dynamics (notably the Darfur crisis) fueled armed challenges to the regime.
Rebel columns entered N’Djamena and fought government forces in intense urban combat. The government held the capital, but the episode underscored the scale of armed opposition during the 2005–2010 war period.
Chad and Sudan signed an agreement to normalize relations and end support for hostile armed groups operating across their border—an important diplomatic step toward reducing proxy warfare pressures on Déby’s government.
Chad: Coups, Hissène Habré and Idriss Déby Era (1975–2010)
