Hissène Habré, also spelled Hissen Habré, was the brutal leader of Chad from 1982 until he was deposed on 1990.
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2 Habré: Prime Minister 3 The Dictator and the Civil War 4 The Defeat of Qaddafi and Fall of Habré 5 Human Rights |
The Early Years
Habré was born on born in 1942 in Chad. He was member of the now-extinct political party Forces Armées Nationale du Tchad (Armed Forces of Chad, FANT).
François Tombalbaye became president and prime minister of Chad (on 30 August, 1973 he changed his name to N'Garta Tombalbaye). On 30 April, 1975, Félix Malloum led a coup d'état against Tombalbaye and deposed him, assuming the posts of prime minister and president.
On 29 August, 1978, Habré was given the post of prime minister of Chad. His term ended, however, a year later, when Malloum's government ended. Elections brought Goukouni Oueddei to the presidency.
Libya invaded Chad on July 1975 to drive out Habré. Libya occupied and annexed the Aozou Strip. France and the United States aided Chad, because they were hostile to the Libyan "revolutionary leader", Mu'ammar al-Qaddafi (also spelled Moammar al-Khaddafi, al-Gaddafi, al-Qadhafi, al-Gadhdhafi, et cetera).
Civil war deepened. On 15 December, 1980, Libya occupied all of northern Chad, but Habré defeated Libyan troops and drove them out on November 1981. On 1983, Qaddafi's troops occupied all of the country north of Koro Toro. One of Ronald Reagan's great errors was aiding Habré. The United States used a clandestine base in Chad to train captured Libyan soldiers whom it was organizing into an anti-Qaddafi force. The USA provided military aid and gave support to the tyrannical DSD.
However, Habré had little time to enjoy victory. People in Chad hating his brutal regime of terror and genocide. Idriss Déby finally deposed the tyrant on 1 December 1990. Déby installed himself as ruler ... and dictator. However, popular support for Déby was shown on on the 20 May, 2001 elections, where he defeated six other candidates with 2,161,287, which is 67.3%. The person in second place was Ngarlejy Yorongar, with 13.9%!
Habré: Prime Minister
The Republic of Chad had remained loyal to Charles de Gaulle's Free French movement during World War II, and was awarded autonomy on 20 November 1928. On 11 August 1960 it became fully independent from France.The Dictator and the Civil War
Oueddei fell on 7 Jun, 1982, when he was deposed by Hissène Habré. The FANT leader became president, and the post of prime minister was abolished. Any political opponent of Habré was brutally executed. Habré created the feared police, the Documentation and Security Directorate (DSD). Thousands of tribes Habré thought hostile to the regime was destroyed.The Defeat of Qaddafi and Fall of Habré
Habré's aid from the USA and France helped him win over Qaddafi. The Libyan occupation of the north of Koro Toro ended when Habré defeated him on 1987. By that time, the war was beginning to end. The war had positively ended on 1988.Human Rights
Habré killed thousands of people, but the exact number is unknown. His most brutal campaigns included genocide against ethnic groups in the south (1984), against the Hadjerai (1987), and against the Zaghawa (1989). He authorized tens of thousands of political murders and physical torture, according to http://hrw.org/justice/habre/intro_web2.htm.
