Zouar, Chad

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official_name =Zouar
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pushpin_label_position =bottom
pushpin_map_caption = Location in Chad
subdivision_type = Country
subdivision_name = flag|Chad
subdivision_type1 = Region
subdivision_name1 = Borkou-Ennedi-Tibesti Region
subdivision_type2 = Department
subdivision_name2 = Tibesti Department
subdivision_type3 = Sub-Prefecture
subdivision_name3 = Zouar
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latd= 20|latm= 27|lats= |latNS=N
longd= 16|longm= 31|longs= |longEW=E
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Zouar is a town in the Tibesti Department in the BET Region in northern Chad, in an oasis in the Tibesti Mountains. The town has an airport with an unpaved runaway. [ [http://www.aircraft-charter-world.com/airports/africa/chad.htm Airports in Chad] ]

The seat of the "derde", the highest religious and political authority among the Teda of the Tibesti, the town came under French control in 1917. [cite book|author=Azevedo, Mario J.|title=Roots of Violence: A History of War in Chad|publisher=Routledge|year=1998|pages=71|id=ISBN 90-5699-582-0]

After Chad's independence, Zouar played an important role during the Chadian Civil War and the Chadian-Libyan conflict, when its control was hotly contended. It was first besieged in 1968 by the FROLINAT rebels led by Mahamat Ali Taher, and was relieved only by the arrival in August of a French expeditionary force. [cite book|author=Nolutshungu, Sam C.|title=Limits of Anarchy: Intervention and State Formation in Chad|publisher=University of Virginia Press|year=1995|pages=69|id=ISBN 0-8139-1628-3] One of the last strongholds held by the government in the north, it was attacked in June 1977 by the People's Armed Forces (FAP), forcing the garrison to evacuate. [cite journal| author = Buijtenhuijs, Rob| title = Le FROLINAT à l'épreuve du pouvoir: L'échec d'une révolution Africaine| journal = Politique Africaine| issue = 16| pages = 16–17| date = December 1984| url = http://www.politique-africaine.com/numeros/pdf/016015.pdf| format = PDF]

During the Chadian-Libyan conflict, a Libyan garrison was installed, only to be expelled when the former pro-Libyan FAP rebelled in the Tibesti in August 1986; but the town was reconquered with the Libyan counter-offensive in December. In January 1987 the Chadian army once and for all freed Zouar. [cite book|author=Pollack, Kenneth M.|title=Arabs at War: Military Effectiveness, 1948–1991|publisher=University of Nebraska Press|year=2002|pages=390|id=ISBN 0-8032-3733-2]

In October 1998, with the foundation of the insurgent Movement for Democracy and Justice in Chad (MDJT), civil war has erupted again in the north. [ [http://www.strategypage.com/qnd/chad/why.aspx Why a War in Chad] ] The MDJT commander, Youssouf Togoimi, announced in June 1999 that his forces were in a position to take Zouar and Bardaï, but preferred to wait for the government troops to surrender. [cite news | title = IRIN Update 481 for 8 June| publisher = IRIN| date = 1999-06-08| url = http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Newsletters/irinw481.html] On 18 March 2006 the MDJT started besieging the town. [ [http://www.tchadnews.info/temoignage_de_ndjamena.htm Mardi 18 avril 2006: Temoignage de Ndjamena] ]

Zouar is also the birthplace of the former Head of State Goukouni Oueddei [cite book|author=Jessup, John E.|title=An Encyclopedic Dictionary of Conflict and Conflict Resolution, 1945-1996|publisher=Greenwood Press|year=1998|page=554|id=ISBN 0-3132-8112-2] and of the MDJT founder Youssouf Togoimi [cite news | author = Djonabaye, Dieudonné | title = Youssouf Togoïmi : la mort d'un rebelle| publisher = RFI| url =http://www.rfi.fr/actufr/articles/033/article_18166.asp] , respectively born in 1944 and 1953.

References