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SWJED
04-14-2006, 07:13 AM
13 April Associated press - Chad's President Now Facing Insurgency (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/13/AR2006041301457.html).


Chad's president, Idriss Deby, was embraced as a unifier when he seized power by force in 1990.

Now some of the former military pilot's own relatives have turned on him in a scramble for power heightened by the discovery of oil in a central African country with few other resources and a history of instability.

Deby, a celebrated military strategist, has played a key role in that volatile history. The rebels he now faces are even emulating him. They have used the Darfur region of neighboring Sudan as a staging ground, just as he did 16 years ago. In an attack Thursday on the capital - which Deby's forces repulsed - the rebels raced in light trucks, a tactic Deby has deployed....

The competition for power in Chad has become more intense since the country began exporting oil in 2004.

Sudan's interest in cutting off Chadian support for Darfurian rebels and the Chadian rebels' desire for power appear to have combined to place Deby at serious risk.

Tom Odom
02-02-2008, 02:33 PM
News reports this AM indicated that rebel forces have entered the capital


Chad unrest delays deployment of European peacekeepers (http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/02/01/europe/EU-GEN-EU-Chad.php)

BRUSSELS, Belgium: The European Union has postponed the deployment of advance units of its peacekeeping force in Chad after an upsurge in rebel activity in the central African nation, EU military officials said Friday.

Two planes carrying about 50 Irish special forces and military equipment from Austria were canceled Thursday evening until the EU has a clearer picture of the impact of a rebel offensive against Chad's government, Irish and Austrian officers said.

"The incursion into Chad of a rebel group has caused a security situation and as a precaution EUFOR has restricted troop movements in Chad and into Chad since yesterday evening," said Commandant Dan Harvey, a spokesman for the EU operation.

"This unstable situation has led EUFOR to postpone flights planned for today and it could postpone the arrival of the EUFOR troops for a few days," Harvey added in a telephone interview from the headquarters of the EU mission in Paris.

The Irish special forces were to have formed part of an advance force to help set up the peacekeeping mission which is due to be up and running early next month

Tom Odom
02-02-2008, 02:39 PM
C'est toujours le meme chose


France moving troops to Chad (http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/02/01/chad.france/index.html)


PARIS, France (CNN) -- The French Defense Ministry said Friday it is dispatching 140 soldiers from Gabon to Chad's capital of N'Djamena as a precaution to protect French citizens after renewed fighting between government troops and rebels.

The ministry spokesman said concerns were raised over the safety of French citizens by reports the Chad military had been fighting a rebel force hostile to President Idriss Deby north and east of N'Djamena.

A ministry spokesman said because of rebel activity in the former French colony, the decision was made to reinforce the garrison of French troops stationed in the city to "ensure the security of French citizens."

The French move came as U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said he is "deeply concerned at the resumption of fighting in Chad."

Ban's spokesman said he "deplores any action that could worsen the already grave humanitarian situation especially in eastern Chad where the international community is actively engaged in activities to provide relief and secure the voluntary, safe and sustainable return of refugees and displaced persons in eastern Chad and north-eastern Central African Republic

wm
02-02-2008, 03:02 PM
Chad rebels fight inside capital

Thousands of Chadian rebels have entered the capital N'Djamena and are advancing on the presidential palace.
There has been intense gunfire in the city centre, and a witness said army tanks were burning in the streets.

But the country's foreign minister said President Idriss Deby was inside the palace and the situation in the city was under control.

The French Foreign Ministry condemned the attempt to "seize power by force", blaming "armed forces from outside".

The Chadian and Sudanese governments accuse each other of backing rebels in each others' territory, and the rebels began their advance on N'Djamena from near Chad's eastern border with Sudan earlier this week.

France called on its citizens in Chad to stay indoors, reversing an earlier order to gather at evacuation points.

The African Union called for an end to the rebels' advance, and said it would expel Chad from the organisation if they took power.
The whole piece is here (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7223760.stm)

JJackson
02-03-2008, 03:03 PM
Chad capital hit by new fighting
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7224691.stm

Stan
02-03-2008, 08:18 PM
Interesting this near immediate flare up when I think back on all the French involvement from the late 80s. Then it was US Hawk batteries (transported by US C-5s via Zaire), on occasion a few aging Mirage IIIs on Kinshasa's tarmac, and lately the Arche de Zoe affair (The French accused of kidnapping Chadian children). I'm certain that's done wonders for the scrutiny of humanitarian and other aid organizations in the region.


Back to battle - The rebels accuse the French army (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7125389.stm) of feeding strategic information to the Chadian army thanks to the their Mirage jets which regularly over fly the rebel border hide-outs.

France, which has more than 1,000 troops stationed in Chad, says it keeps a check on rebel movements in order to protect its citizens in N'Djamena from possible attack.

The UFDD say they consider the French army an enemy and have gone on to issue a statement declaring a state of war against all foreign troops on Chadian soil.

There goes any hope of foreign military protection to aid workers :wry:

Well, they are helping US Expats :cool:


The U.S. Embassy requests that all American citizens still in N’Djamena who would like to be evacuated should prepare to depart immediately, and identify themselves to the French military, who will retrieve American citizens to escort them to the airport.

davidbfpo
02-03-2008, 10:04 PM
From another website an early view of what has just happened:

http://counterterrorismblog.org/ Title Chad's Future Taliban enters capital while the West is asleep.....It was indeed a Sudanese-backed operation to change the regime in Chad, and backed by Wahabi circles, as a preemptive move to crumble the forthcoming humanitarian operation in Darfur.

davidbfpo

Rex Brynen
02-04-2008, 01:16 AM
From another website an early view of what has just happened:

http://counterterrorismblog.org/ Title Chad's Future Taliban enters capital while the West is asleep.....It was indeed a Sudanese-backed operation to change the regime in Chad, and backed by Wahabi circles, as a preemptive move to crumble the forthcoming humanitarian operation in Darfur.

davidbfpo

Ahh, Walid Phares at his best....

The insurgency in Chad is far, FAR more complex than the link suggests. Certainly, some of the rebels likely enjoy Sudanese backing. However, Débay's amendment of the constitution (to allow himself a third term), rampant corruption, authoritarianism, his reliance on his own Zagawa community (which itself has fractured), and the usual lure of capturing the state to siphon off its resources are all at play here. Moreover, Sudan is far from the only neighbour that he has alienated.

On top of this, Phares labels both the Sudanese Janjaweed (Darfuri Arab) militia and the Sudanese government as "jihadi". Neither label fits. The former are driven by a combination of mercenary motives, economic struggles over land, and ethno-tribal tensions; the former certainly utilize Islam as a rallying cry, but also has repeatedly arrested or detained Hassan al-Turabi, the leading Islamist figure in the country, and (post-9/11) provided significant intelligence to the US on al-Qa'ida.

Beelzebubalicious
02-04-2008, 10:25 AM
What are the implications for Sudan now and for stability in the Horn in general? Any good analysis or information out there...?

davidbfpo
02-04-2008, 12:18 PM
Far too early to expect any good analysis, especially as very few reporters likely to be on the ground, excluding French speakers.

If the civil war remains a new high level - what will the French reaction be? Limited to protection of French and other nationals? Secondly the EU intervention, planned to be based in Eastern Chad on the Darfur border, will disappear, far too dangerous for EU members, let alone logistics. With a knock-on effect on the Darfur intervention (EU, AU & UN). Wily Sudanese win again.

davidbfpo

Tom Odom
02-04-2008, 01:57 PM
Ahh, Walid Phares at his best....

The insurgency in Chad is far, FAR more complex than the link suggests. Certainly, some of the rebels likely enjoy Sudanese backing. However, Débay's amendment of the constitution (to allow himself a third term), rampant corruption, authoritarianism, his reliance on his own Zagawa community (which itself has fractured), and the usual lure of capturing the state to siphon off its resources are all at play here. Moreover, Sudan is far from the only neighbour that he has alienated.

On top of this, Phares labels both the Sudanese Janjaweed (Darfuri Arab) militia and the Sudanese government as "jihadi". Neither label fits. The former are driven by a combination of mercenary motives, economic struggles over land, and ethno-tribal tensions; the former certainly utilize Islam as a rallying cry, but also has repeatedly arrested or detained Hassan al-Turabi, the leading Islamist figure in the country, and (post-9/11) provided significant intelligence to the US on al-Qa'ida.


Thanks Rex! The good mssr Phares was just here lecturing--I skipped. Something about a Jesuit trained Lebanese I find less than balanced.

Best

Tom

wm
02-04-2008, 02:05 PM
Far too early to expect any good analysis, especially as very few reporters likely to be on the ground, excluding French speakers.

If the civil war remains a new high level - what will the French reaction be? Limited to protection of French and other nationals? Secondly the EU intervention, planned to be based in Eastern Chad on the Darfur border, will disappear, far too dangerous for EU members, let alone logistics. With a knock-on effect on the Darfur intervention (EU, AU & UN). Wily Sudanese win again.

davidbfpo

Interesting that new sources are now hinting that Libya is brokering talks. Reminds me of early 80's incursion in Chad by the good Colonel Q. Perhaps he is at it again, only this time trying a sham diplomatic effort after using "Sudanese" forces as his shills so that he can walk into Chad as an occupying peacemaker. Should that start to materialize, I wonder what may come out of the Elysee Palace. I suspect it may be be something other than Sarko and Carla whispering sweet nothings to each other.

Uboat509
02-04-2008, 05:31 PM
Far too early to expect any good analysis, especially as very few reporters likely to be on the ground, excluding French speakers.

If the civil war remains a new high level - what will the French reaction be? Limited to protection of French and other nationals? Secondly the EU intervention, planned to be based in Eastern Chad on the Darfur border, will disappear, far too dangerous for EU members, let alone logistics. With a knock-on effect on the Darfur intervention (EU, AU & UN). Wily Sudanese win again.

davidbfpo

France probably doesn't care if Deby gets the boot and in fact may welcome it given Deby's ham-handed attempts at extorting the west over mineral resources. France will, however, do whatever they think is necessary to protect their mineral interests in the country. While there is almost certainly a radical Islamic facet to the current rebellion but it is not a dominate one. In all likelyhood France, and any other foreign powers who have interests in Chad are calculating whether or not they can do business with the rebels if they win. I would not even be suprised if there were some low level exploritory talks going on with the rebels, though I wouldn't bet the house on it.

I doubt that this will have much effect on the horn but whenever this happens it creates huge headaches for Niger and Gabon.

SFC W

Stan
02-04-2008, 06:06 PM
In this morning video (http://en.rian.ru/video/20080204/98303311.html), France’s official position is fairly neutral, but still siding with President Idriss Deby. That is Deby was free and fairly elected with European monitoring bodies. Several of the article bleeds indicate that the rebels feel the French are the enemy – assisting the Chadian government from their Mirages. More interesting was the Chadian MOIs most recent version…we sent the Sudanese mercenaries more than 700 clicks out of town after being assisted by Sudanese helicopters and Antonov aircraft.

All Africa (http://allafrica.com/stories/200802041128.html) has a good article with a bit of history for those late in the game.


The closest the rebels had previously come to seizing control of the capital and the country was in April 2006. One month before presidential elections...That attack failed in part because the rebels, most apparently unfamiliar with N'djamena's unnamed streets and lack of sign posts, lost their way when they reached the city centre and attacked the empty National Assembly building :eek:

Deby - survivor?

Chad's President Idriss Deby is no stranger to fighting for survival...A French-trained helicopter pilot and former colonel in Chad's army, in 1989 Deby formed his own rebel movement in Sudan, with the backing of Khartoum.

Said by analysts to be a master strategist, in 1990 he swept back into Chad and seized control of the vast, semi-desert country with barely a shot fired.



Looks like Libreville will soon be enjoying an otherwise off-season boost in Expat and Official visitors (err, refugees) :wry:

Jedburgh
02-04-2008, 06:46 PM
ISN Security Watch, 4 Feb 08: Chad, Sudan, and a Risky Western Game (http://www.isn.ethz.ch/news/sw/details.cfm?id=18602)

....At stake is Chad's oil, which came on stream in 2003, granting Deby lavish revenues to fund his counterinsurgency. Deby has manipulated Chad's constitution to allow him a third term as president, and his government is notably corrupt, abrogating a World Bank-led scheme to have oil revenues spent on health, education and invested for the future.

Two of the main rebel factions are headed by former Deby apparatchiks and family members, who doubtless have designs on the oil largesse. As does the NCPs patron in Beijing, which has largely stood by Khartoum throughout the Darfur catastrophe, despite the bad publicity in the run-up to this years' Olympic Games.

With south Sudan likely to secede in 2011 and take with it much of Sudan's oil - though north-south borders have not been decided, as the NCP seeks the best line possible - new oil sources via a client regime in Chad would be welcomed in Beijing, as a sanction-covered Sudan is out of bounds for western petroleum investment. South Sudan would not be out of bounds, however, and Beijing would have to contend with western oil company rivals in Juba.

Chad provides an alternative, and Deby himself has sought to curry Chinese favor by switching diplomatic allegiance from Taipei, which in hindsight looks like a pre-emptive move to show the Chinese that they did not need to depose him to access Chad's oil.....

JJackson
02-05-2008, 04:53 PM
Jedburg thanks for that link. This the best analysis of the current situation I have seen. It seems (well to me anyway) balanced in that it shows none of the players are really in a position to adopt the moral high ground and covers the major factors governing the murky sets of allegiances. Obviously things have moved on a bit, both on the ground and politically, as the security council have effectively given the nod to France to give more support to Deby - if they want to. Although this may have the short term effect of getting EUFOR in country I dread to think what effect it may have for their security in the longer term.


France faces tough choices over Chad
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7227290.stm

tequila
02-05-2008, 05:19 PM
Alex de Waal's blog: Making Sense of Chad (http://www.ssrc.org/blog/2008/02/04/making-sense-of-chad/)



Last weekend’s battle in the Chadian capital N’djamena came as no surprise. For the last two years, the Sudan government has been trying to overthrow the Chadian president, Idriss Deby, using Chadian rebels as proxy forces. The three armed groups involved in the latest attack were all extensively armed by Sudanese Security, which has the clear intent of cutting off the support that Deby is giving to Darfurian rebels, especially the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), which has recently been on the offensive in Darfur. The timing is no surprise either. In the next few weeks, a European Union protection force (EUFOR) was due to deploy to eastern Chad and north-eastern Central African Republic. While EUFOR’s mandate (given by the UN Security Council) is for impartial civilian protection, it is a substantially French initiative, and seen by all in the region as a military protection for Deby. Khartoum and the rebels wanted to strike first.

The Chadian civil war is often described as a “spillover” from Darfur. That is a simplification. Darfur’s war actually began as a spillover from Chad more than twenty years ago and the two conflicts have been entangled ever since. Many of the Arab militia fighting in Darfur are of Chadian origin, and many of the rebels similarly served in the Chadian army or militia ...

Excellent post worth reading in full, as is anything de Waal writes about Darfur and the Horn.

Stan
02-05-2008, 06:09 PM
CAIRO, February 5 (RIA Novosti) (http://en.rian.ru/world/20080205/98450008.html) - Reports emerged on Tuesday saying Chadian rebels had agreed on a ceasefire to end three days of hostilities, but authorities insisted they had defeated the insurgents with no such deal reached.


The rebels are a loose coalition of three opposition groups whose leaders accuse President Idriss Deby of corruption and embezzling millions of dollars in oil revenue.

Media in several Arab countries cited a spokesman for the rebel forces as saying they had given their agreement to an immediate ceasefire due to "the suffering of the Chadian people," and in line with the peace initiatives put forward by the African Union's mediators.

However, French media cited in their latest reports Chad's prime minister, Nourredine Delwa Kassire Coumakoye, as saying that the insurgency had been quashed and that the remaining rebel forces were fleeing the area around the capital.

"Why a ceasefire? They [the rebels] don't exist any more. With whom would we sign a ceasefire? We've got them under control," Coumakoye told international news channel France 24.

JJackson
02-07-2008, 11:45 AM
Chad to pardon French kidnappers
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7232327.stm


Mr Deby made the pardon offer in the Chadian capital, N'Djamena, after talks with Defence Minister Herve Morin.

During the visit he thanked France, the former colonial power in Chad, for backing his government.

He said Paris had provided vital information in the face of a week-long assault, during which the rebels briefly stormed N'Djamena.

Stan
02-11-2008, 07:01 PM
France Advises Nationals to Stay (http://allafrica.com/stories/200802111139.html)


The government of France has granted permission to its residents in Chad, who are still in evacuation centres, to remain if they wish, as calm and some degree of normalcy has returned to N'djamena, the capital city.

It however cautioned them not to travel out of the capital and to observe the hours of curfew until absolute normalcy is restored in the country.

According to a statement released by the Embassy of France in Abuja, the French Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, Mr. Bernard Kouchner disclosed that 485 French and 444 foreigners had arrived France from Chad and there are still many French citizens in the gathering points at the Cité Lamy and the Novotel; a recommendation has been made for them to go home.

Jedburgh
02-22-2008, 02:28 PM
SWP Comments, 19 Feb 08: The Chad Crisis and Operation EUFOR Chad/CAR (http://www.swp-berlin.org/en/common/get_document.php?asset_id=4766)

Recent fighting between three rebel groups and the Chadian army calls into question the deployment and purpose of Operation EUFOR Chad/CAR (http://consilium.europa.eu/cms3_fo/showPage.asp?id=1366&lang=en), which the Council of the European Union launched on 15 October 2007. The escalation of violence and open French political and military support for the authoritarian regime of President Idriss Déby have fundamentally changed the political circumstances under which the EU operation will be deployed. Therefore, the EU should re-examine EUFOR's underlying purposes. It should also consider abandoning the entire operation.....

davidbfpo
02-23-2008, 12:08 AM
Quote:

'If the civil war remains a new high level - what will the French reaction be? Limited to protection of French and other nationals? Secondly the EU intervention, planned to be based in Eastern Chad on the Darfur border, will disappear, far too dangerous for EU members, let alone logistics. With a knock-on effect on the Darfur intervention (EU, AU & UN). Wily Sudanese win again.

Nice to know my armchair viewpoint two weeks ago had some good points.

davidbfpo

Uboat509
02-23-2008, 01:18 AM
Am I way off base here or is not sending peace keepers in because fighting has broken out a bit like not sending police in because crimes are being comitted?

SFC W

Ron Humphrey
02-23-2008, 02:04 AM
Am I way off base here or is not sending peace keepers in because fighting has broken out a bit like not sending police in because crimes are being comitted?

SFC W

Would we really expect anything different?

davidbfpo
02-23-2008, 01:13 PM
As a police officer I would expect to be properly equipped and given clear directions if being sent to a live, violent crime incident. Despatching a police unit to for example a riot without the right equipment is dangerous, if not foolhardy.

I understand that most peacekeepers expect to keep the peace, using a variety of well-documented methods and that bloodshed is minimised. Sending a lightly-armed peacekeeping contingent to Chad would be dangerous for those involved. Peace enforcement is a different mission.

I have little doubt that few national governments would allocate forces to Chad if it was high-risk and bloodshed likely. No-one wants to see a repeat of what happened in Rwanda.

There are a small number of UN contributors who have been prepared to be robust and risk casualties.

If anyone wants to volunteer their nation for the Chad mission step forward.

davidbfpo

Ron Humphrey
02-23-2008, 06:27 PM
As a police officer I would expect to be properly equipped and given clear directions if being sent to a live, violent crime incident. Despatching a police unit to for example a riot without the right equipment is dangerous, if not foolhardy.

I understand that most peacekeepers expect to keep the peace, using a variety of well-documented methods and that bloodshed is minimised. Sending a lightly-armed peacekeeping contingent to Chad would be dangerous for those involved. Peace enforcement is a different mission.

I have little doubt that few national governments would allocate forces to Chad if it was high-risk and bloodshed likely. No-one wants to see a repeat of what happened in Rwanda.

There are a small number of UN contributors who have been prepared to be robust and risk casualties.

If anyone wants to volunteer their nation for the Chad mission step forward.

davidbfpo

I think its probably important that we remember how many other nations besides ours are also in the circumstance of their plates being full. The broad spectrum of operations which have been taking place through the last years have pushed many if not most beyond the limits of their capacity to keep up.

This is most definitely a part of AQ and others "strategy" as several here have more than adequately shown. It cost very little in blood and treasure to create chaos and on the flipside heavy investment of such in order to address said chaos. It seems to be a fact that some situations may have to play themselves out to a certain point before being addressed by outside parties in other than advisory and other such capacities. Sad but unfortunately life.\

This would seem to be one of the key supporting factors for preventative infrastructure support in such areas before they reach this point. Many a time once the cats out the bag theres little to do except wait for it to get tired before trying to catch it. Too bad considering how many lives are often lost due to that very thing.

On that note what can be done in order to help facilitate less drastic effects from this. :confused:

Entropy
03-10-2008, 08:37 PM
From Kent's Imperative (http://kentsimperative.blogspot.com/2008/03/applications-in-commercial-overhead.html):


We continue to be impressed with the uses for commercial overhead imagery which the private sector now increasingly relies upon in an astounding array of situations. While none of these applications are new from the perspective of an intelligence community which has been employing national technical means to similar ends for decades, their independent re-discovery in the outside world, and operationalization in support of crisis situations, remains fascinating from the perspective of intelligence studies scholarship.

The most recent example comes from the conflict in Chad - which provides an excellent and evolving unclassified teaching case to explore the issues involved in small wars and destabilizing countries, particularly for the unique kinds of intelligence support required in noncombatant evacuation operations and other stability and support missions. UNOSAT has recently released a series of products derived from commercial satellite data which attempt to estimate the scale of urban evacuation of the capital of N´Djamena.

For the Chad maps mentions, go here (http://unosat.web.cern.ch/unosat/) and click on the chad link.

Jedburgh
12-21-2008, 04:30 PM
USIP, 15 Dec 08: Toward Resolving Chad’s Interlocking Conflicts (http://www.usip.org/pubs/usipeace_briefings/2008/1215_chad_conflicts.html)

....In October 2008, USIP and the International Peace Institute (http://www.ipacademy.org/), in collaboration with Caring for Kaela ( http://caringforkaela.org/), sponsored a multi-stakeholder consultation to address the political instability in Chad and its regional implications. The attendees included representatives from the Chadian diaspora, ambassadors from countries in the region, U.N. and EU representatives and experts from the non-governmental community and academia.

This report summarizes the consultation’s main themes and recommendations. The first section addresses the security, political and humanitarian situation in Chad; examines the August 13 Political Agreement between the Chadian government and opposition parties and suggests ideas for the way forward. The second section focuses on the regional dynamics, including the tension between Chad and Sudan, the crisis in the Central African Republic (http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=5800&l=1) (CAR) and progress on the implementation of the Dakar Agreement (http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article26406), a pan-African initiative. The third section examines the international response to the crisis in Chad, including the role of the EU and U.N. and critical international stakeholders such as France, the U.S., and China......

student2010
09-26-2010, 08:48 PM
Hello everyone,
I am a student majoring in military history and I would like to write a capstone paper about the Chadian-Libyan conflict, specifically the "Toyota War". I cannot find any primary sources or books on the matter. Do you have any recommendations or suggestions?

Thanks in advance:)

davidbfpo
09-26-2010, 09:10 PM
Alas SWC appeared a long time after the war and there is little here on a quick check. Always use the search feature!

It was very much a French issue, so perhaps this French news site can help, if behind a registration / paywall: http://thecroissant.com/index.html

Try some French military sites / journals.

One of the intriguing aspects were the complex international politics, Iraq supported the French as Libya then was an opponent. Didn't the USAF assist with transporting French supplies in?

jmm99
09-26-2010, 10:54 PM
Try a PM to this guy, M-A Lagrange (http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/member.php?u=3717). Chad was one of his operational areas; now the South Sudan.

Welcome to the forum.

Bonne Chance

Mike

davidbfpo
09-27-2010, 07:51 AM
Might be worthwhile looking at Foreign Legion memoirs by ex-members, there' s often a few on library and bookshop shelves. I have a recollection that some have chapters on this conflict.

carl
09-28-2010, 02:24 AM
You might also try Mission Aviation Fellowship and Air Serv International. They may have had some aircraft based in Chad at the time and you could get some worms eye view stories from pilots or mechanics. I remember one guy telling me how he watched a Libyan jet get shot down over the airport.

davidbfpo
09-28-2010, 08:31 AM
student2010,

Please consider posting your paper here at the end. Even submit for the SWJ Blog.

M-A Lagrange
09-28-2010, 08:58 AM
Hello,

I will try to help.
What are you talking about first of all?
Are you talking about Operation Manta or Operation Epervier?
I believe we are here on Op Manta. But I might be wrong.
Some links with web sites and blogs about the subject.
http://www.7septembre.fr/index.php
A nice web site with a short film on the destruction of a Libyan bomber plane by French troops.
http://www.abebooks.fr/OPERATION-MANTA-Tchad-1983-1984-documents-secrets/1330480997/bd
A book in french on Operation Manta that preceded the operation epervier.
A blog from a Troupe de marine colonel on Operation Manta:
http://fncv-drome.over-blog.com/article-29446462.html
The site of the paratroopers Legionaires on operation Manta
http://paralegion.free.fr/manta.php
And the revue Heracles from the French Army:
http://www.cdef.terre.defense.gouv.fr/publications/heracles/01/01H_retex.pdf

I hope this will help.

M-A

student2010
09-28-2010, 10:06 PM
Yes, I am referring to Operation Mantra. Thanks guys! I can't express my appericiation enough. I will definitely post my paper after I finish it. Right now, I am trying to determine if I can find enough good quality primary sources so that I can write a Capstone thesis paper. I would love to also find primary Chadian sources, if possible.

BayonetBrant
09-29-2010, 02:01 PM
Although this link is to the board game included in the old Strategy & Tactics magazine, the accompanying articles / bibliography might be able to help also:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/8322/chad-the-toyota-wars

http://cf.geekdo-images.com/images/pic477897_md.jpg

student2010
09-29-2010, 02:11 PM
I have been trying to get my hands on the board war game! Thank you for the recommendation. I was thinking along the same lines. I believe there is another war game about the Toyota War. I will definitely check those out. I was even thinking of creating another war game on the Toyota War and the current conflict between Chad, the Central African Republic, and the Sudan.

BayonetBrant
09-29-2010, 03:21 PM
Just be careful about the names. IIRC, S&T got in some trouble for the use of "Toyota" in the title.

Mark Stout
09-30-2010, 03:50 AM
You might also have a look at Kenneth Pollack's Arabs at War. If I recall correctly, he discusses that war and if so his bibliography would have something on it.

Colin Robinson
10-16-2010, 01:09 AM
I would second Mark's recommendation of Arabs at War. For the wider conflict, it's extremely good. Also possibly useful from a different angle is a paper that was published here by William F. Owen, 'The Toyota Horde: Examining a Low Cost Military Capability' that deals with updating this concept. I've doublechecked the paper, and it has no details on Operation Manta or others in the Aozou Strip or further south, but provide a different angle on the subject.
Cheers
Colin

BayonetBrant
10-18-2010, 02:16 PM
tangential article, but likely worth the 10 minutes it'll take to read:

http://www.newsweek.com/2010/10/14/why-rebel-groups-love-the-toyota-hilux.html

M-A Lagrange
02-22-2011, 01:28 PM
I know, I am digging out an old threat on Chad. But with the events in the region, I thought it would be relevant:


Chad’s North West: The Next High-risk Area?

For more than five years, public attention relative to Chad has been focused on the armed rebellion in the east and the crisis in the Darfur region of neighbouring Sudan, while totally neglecting the country’s North West. However, there are serious risks that the rise of trans-Sahara drug trafficking and terrorism, emergence of radical Muslim movements in neighbouring countries, development of inter-communal violence, decline of local traditional justice systems and lack of state governance will destabilise that ignored region. The authorities in N’Djamena need to move to change the governance system there and defuse the multiple roots of potential conflict before a crisis explodes.
Historically, the North West has played an ambivalent but pivotal role between the Arab-Islamic culture of North Africa and the sub-Saharan African cultures. Presently, its strategic position makes it increasingly the target of infiltration attempts by armed groups and criminal networks that take advantage of the no-man’s-land areas of the Sahara Desert to expand their activities. Islamic terrorist groups from Northern Nigeria (the Boko Haram sect) and al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) operating in the Sahel region are making their diffuse but real influence felt. Up to now, this dangerous neighbourhood has not produced instability, but greater vigilance is definitely needed.
Since the end of the 1990s, the government has not been able to reconcile the communities, despite the improved regional security context following the progressive dismantling of the two main rebel groups operating in the region: the Movement for Democratisation and Development (Mouvement pour la démocratie et le développement, MDD), and the Movement for Democratisation and Justice in Chad (Mouvement pour la démocratie et la justice au Tchad, MDJT). The continuous decline of the local traditional justice systems and environmental degradation contribute to the precarious quality of the region’s stability.
In such a context, inter-communal political manipulation is likely to awaken old resentments and aggravate local grievances. Moreover, N’Djamena neglects the North West, as shown by its reactions to the very predictable food crisis that began in 2009 and the flood that destroyed the city of Faya Largeau in July 2010. Instead of implementing a sustainable development policy, the authorities make empty promises and prolong the old colonial mode of governance, based on tight regional control via traditional leaders and security forces.
Although major trouble is still unlikely in the short-term, there is already a high level of tension between pastoralists and farmers. The North West, which provided many fighters during Chad’s earlier civil wars, thus has the potential to become the country’s new hot spot. To prevent this, the government needs to promptly improve the way it runs the region, focus on the attempts by international criminal and terrorist networks to expand their influence and tackle inter-communal tensions by:
 setting up a regional development plan to improve governance in the North West and build social infrastructure and roads. This plan should be based on the demands of the local communities and include financial incentives for civil servants to work there, rational administrative coverage of the territory and appropriate rules for integrating traditional leaders into the new local governance system. N’Djamena must treat development and security as inter-linked issues, given that significant development programs could contribute to calming the situation in the region;
 updating and implementing local and national justice systems with respect to the role of traditional leaders and the relationship of natural resource issues to conflicts, especially those between pastoralists and farmers, which require reform of the land tenure system, a disarmament program and dispute resolution mechanisms run by neutral authorities;
 creating a regional police unit with adequate legal powers and logistical resources (communication equipment, cars, and helicopters) to monitor and secure the North West border. External partners of Chad like France and the U.S. should offer training and operational mentoring to the unit that will be under the authority of the interior ministry; and
 pursuing involvement in pan-Sahel and Sahara initiatives that seek to improve international cooperation and exchange of information on countering terrorism and drug trafficking and promoting joint operations with the neighbouring countries, especially Niger, Nigeria, and Libya.

http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/regions/africa/central-africa/chad/B78-chads-north-west-the-next-high-risk-area.aspx

student2010
07-27-2011, 09:22 PM
I have alot of secondary sources and I would love to have a good number of primary sources from Chadian participants, particularly toubou fighters.

davidbfpo
08-12-2011, 09:21 AM
Elsewhere student2010 has posted unable to proceed with this subject and has a new RFI for a different theatre.

davidbfpo
12-26-2014, 02:32 PM
A long article in FP 'Our man in Africa', namely Hissne Habr, at one time Chad's President and at the helm in the 'Toyota War' with Libya. It appears to place a lot of information, plus some new details in one place. I don't recall this happening, but a "week is a long time in politics":
Two AWACS surveillance planes, a contingent of F-15s, and tanker aircraft, along with some 600 U.S. support personnel, were deployed to Sudan to assist Habrs counteroffensive.

Link:http://foreignpolicy.com/2014/01/24/our-man-in-africa/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Flashpoints&utm_campaign=2014_FlashPoints%20[Manual]RSbestofprint

Note the focus is on Habre's human rights record and his pending prosecution in Senegal in 2015, after fleeing Chad twentytwo years ago.

davidbfpo
12-26-2014, 02:48 PM
Three threads have been merged today; one with one post on open source satellite mapping, another a RFI on the 'Toyota War' and a more general thread. Hence the thread being re-titled.

Chad appears in many threads, usually as an African war and in recent times Chad has played a military role - often criticised by residents - in the CAR and Mali.

Azor
01-03-2017, 03:39 PM
With a patrol plane as bait, fighter jets targeted radar sites

by TOM COOPER & ARNAUD DELALANDE

In 1983 and 1984, France intervened in the war between Chad and Libya. Paris’ Operation Manta established a “red line” along the 15th parallel — a blocking position meant to stop any advance by Libyan troops and Chadian rebels into southern Chad.

Chad was in the throes of a civil war that escalated when Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi backed Chadian rebel leader Goukouni Oueddei. Libyan troops and Chadian rebels occupied northern Chad. France was determined to protect what was left of Chad — its former colony — from Libyan influence.
France moved the red line north to the 16th parallel in January 1984 after Chadian forces shot down a French Jaguar fighter-bomber, killing its pilot. And on Feb. 16, 1986, the French air force launched an air raid targeting a Libyan-built airbase near the Ouadi-Doum oasis in northern Chad. Eleven Jaguars lobbing BAP-100 bombs totally destroyed the runway.

Thus began Operation Sparrowhawk — France’s big push to bring the Chadian civil war to a close. Air power played a central role....

See more here: https://warisboring.com/in-1987-the-french-air-force-staged-a-daring-raid-on-libyan-defenses-4f8c6fa6f119#.s352hg3zs

Azor
01-03-2017, 03:43 PM
With a patrol plane as bait, fighter jets targeted radar sites

by TOM COOPER & ARNAUD DELALANDE

In 1983 and 1984, France intervened in the war between Chad and Libya. Paris’ Operation Manta established a “red line” along the 15th parallel — a blocking position meant to stop any advance by Libyan troops and Chadian rebels into southern Chad.

Chad was in the throes of a civil war that escalated when Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi backed Chadian rebel leader Goukouni Oueddei. Libyan troops and Chadian rebels occupied northern Chad. France was determined to protect what was left of Chad — its former colony — from Libyan influence.
France moved the red line north to the 16th parallel in January 1984 after Chadian forces shot down a French Jaguar fighter-bomber, killing its pilot. And on Feb. 16, 1986, the French air force launched an air raid targeting a Libyan-built airbase near the Ouadi-Doum oasis in northern Chad. Eleven Jaguars lobbing BAP-100 bombs totally destroyed the runway.

Thus began Operation Sparrowhawk — France’s big push to bring the Chadian civil war to a close. Air power played a central role....

See more here: https://warisboring.com/in-1987-the-french-air-force-staged-a-daring-raid-on-libyan-defenses-4f8c6fa6f119#.s352hg3zs

We hear a great deal about the potential for Russia or China to occupy a small piece of territory - say Narva or the Spratlys - and then establish an A2/AD zone over the occupied area to prevent recapture. Could France's Operations Manta and Sparrowhawk also be examples of this, given the role that defensive CAS and the deployment of SAMs played, as well as the limitation of the mission to the 15th/16th parallel?

davidbfpo
01-04-2017, 03:11 PM
We hear a great deal about the potential for Russia or China to occupy a small piece of territory - say Narva or the Spratlys - and then establish an A2/AD zone over the occupied area to prevent recapture. Could France's Operations Manta and Sparrowhawk also be examples of this, given the role that defensive CAS and the deployment of SAMs played, as well as the limitation of the mission to the 15th/16th parallel?

Azor,

From my "armchair" the situations are very different. Chad in 1987 was an obscure nation, largely desert and sparsely populated. Neither Narva, an Estonian city on the Russian border and The Spratlys are low profile, although the resident populations are very different.

The French and Libyans could use their approach without publicity and a local audience. It probably helped that Libya had few friends; although plenty of sellers of weapons.

Azor
01-04-2017, 07:28 PM
Azor,

From my "armchair" the situations are very different. Chad in 1987 was an obscure nation, largely desert and sparsely populated. Neither Narva, an Estonian city on the Russian border and The Spratlys are low profile, although the resident populations are very different.

The French and Libyans could use their approach without publicity and a local audience. It probably helped that Libya had few friends; although plenty of sellers of weapons.

I was speaking strictly from a military perspective. Probably the closet analogues would be Argentina's seizure of the Falklands in 1982 and Egypt's seizure of the east bank of the Suez in 1973 (to October 13).

I can assure you that China has studied the Falklands intently, while Russia probably leans more toward Suez.

davidbfpo
11-28-2017, 09:49 PM
Hat tip to New Yorker magazine for this 'long read' on Lake Chad and the surrounding context, mainly for one nation: Chad. It deserves a read, if only to illustrate the human aspects and the policy mess around the steadily shrinking lake itself.

Link:https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/12/04/lake-chad-the-worlds-most-complex-humanitarian-disaster

A "taster" passage:
In recent months, I have asked many American diplomatic and military officials to define a coherent long-term strategy for the region, but none of them have been able to articulate more than a vague wish: that by improving local governments and institutions, encouraging democratic tendencies, and facilitating development, the international community can defeat terrorism. In Chad, the security-based approach mistakes the strengthening of Dbys regime for the stabilization of the Chadian state. The strategy is a paradox: in pursuing stability, it strengthens the autocrat, but, in strengthening the autocrat, it enables him to further abuse his position, exacerbating the conditions that lead people to take up arms.There are several threads on the region, notably those on Chad, Mali, Niger and Nigeria. Chad thread, with 50 posts and 41.6k views:http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/showthread.php?t=4824