Ibrahim Abatcha
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Ibrahim Abatcha (1938 – February 11, 1968) was a Chadian revolutionary and political leader who played a key role in the early stages of armed resistance against the government of Chad. Abatcha was a Marxist–Leninist activist. His political activity started during the decolonization process of Chad from France, but after the country's independence he was forced to go into exile. While in exile, he was one of the founders of the Front de Libération Nationale du Tchad (FROLINAT), an organization established in 1966 to oppose the rule of President François Tombalbaye. Abatcha was Influenced by socialist and anti-colonial movements. He sought to unite various opposition factions in Chad to fight against perceived government corruption, ethnic discrimination, and neocolonial influence. Under his leadership, FROLINAT launched guerrilla operations against government forces, marking the beginning of a prolonged insurgency in Chad. Abatcha was killed in combat in 1968, but his ideas and movement continued to shape Chadian politics, influencing insurgent groups and conflicts in the country.


Early life and career

Originally from Borno (a province of the British colony of
Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...
), Abatcha was born into a family with a Muslim background in the French colony of
Chad Chad, officially the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North Africa, North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to Chad–Libya border, the north, Sudan to Chad–Sudan border, the east, the Central Afric ...
at
Fort-Lamy N'Djamena ( ) is the capital and largest city of Chad. It is also a special statute region, divided into 10 districts or ''arrondissements'', similar to the city of Paris. Originally called Fort-Lamy, it was founded in 1900 by the French during ...
(today N'Djamena) in 1938, and learned to speak French, English and
Chadian Arabic Chadian Arabic (), also known as Shuwa Arabic, Western Sudanic Arabic, or West Sudanic Arabic (WSA), is a variety of Arabic and the first language of 1.9 million people in Chad, both town dwellers and Baggara, nomadic cattle herders. Most of its ...
, but not to write
Classical Arabic Classical Arabic or Quranic Arabic () is the standardized literary form of Arabic used from the 7th century and throughout the Middle Ages, most notably in Umayyad Caliphate, Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphate, Abbasid literary texts such as poetry, e ...
, as he did not study in a Qur'anic school.R. Buijtenhuijs, ''Le Frolinat'', 117 He found work as a clerk in the colonial administration and became a militant
trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...
ist.S. Decalo, ''Historical Dictionary of Chad'', 21 He entered in to politics in 1958, becoming a prominent figure in the new radical Chadian National Union (UNT), mainly a split from the African Socialist Movement (MSA) by promoters of the No-vote in the referendum on Chad's entry in the
French Community The French Community () was the constitutional organization set up in October 1958 between France and its remaining African colonies, then in the process of decolonization. It replaced the French Union, which had reorganized the colonial em ...
. The party's followers were all Muslims, and advocated
Pan-Africanism Pan-Africanism is a nationalist movement that aims to encourage and strengthen bonds of solidarity between all Indigenous peoples of Africa, indigenous peoples and diasporas of African ancestry. Based on a common goal dating back to the Atla ...
and socialism. Towards the end of the colonial rule Abatcha was jailed for a year either for his political activities or for mismanagement in the performance of his duties. He and his party staunchly opposed after independence in 1960 the rule of
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...
François Tombalbaye, and the UNT was banned with all other opposition parties on January 19, 1962. After that Abatcha was briefly imprisoned by the new Chadian government.


In exile

After his release, the UNT cadres decided that if the political situation in Chad became too unbearable to allow the party to survive, it would be wise to send some party members out of the country so that the organization would in any case maintain its existence. Thus Abatcha, who held the position of second adjutant secretary-general of the UNT, was sent in 1963 to
Accra Accra (; or ''Gaga''; ; Ewe: Gɛ; ) is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , had a population of ...
,
Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...
, where he was later joined by UNT members Aboubakar Djalabo and Mahamat Ali Taher. By going into exile the UNT members also meant to ensure their personal safety and organize abroad an armed revolt in Chad.V. Thompson & R. Adloff, ''Conflict in Chad'', 51 Abartcha proclaimed the Islamic Republic of Chad in exile and wrote and published a
Maoist Maoism, officially Mao Zedong Thought, is a variety of Marxism–Leninism that Mao Zedong developed while trying to realize a socialist revolution in the agricultural, pre-industrial society of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic o ...
-orientedCollins, Robert O. Africa's Thirty Years War: Libya, Chad, and the Sudan, 1963–1993, p. 38.: Westview Press, 1999. political statement entitled ''Toward a United National Liberation Front'', which will serve as a kind of draft of the official program of the future FROLINAT. In this statement Abatcha declared class war, war against Tombalbaye, against Western imperialism and against French neocolonialism and called for the Islamic revolution. Abatcha led the typical life of the
Third World The term Third World arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either NATO or the Warsaw Pact. The United States, Canada, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, the Southern Cone, NATO, Western European countries and oth ...
dissident in search of support in foreign capitals, first residing in
Accra Accra (; or ''Gaga''; ; Ewe: Gɛ; ) is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , had a population of ...
,
Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...
, where he received his first military training and made friends among members of the Union of the Peoples of Cameroon that had found asylum there. These Cameroonians helped him attend conferences organized by international Communist groups. After leaving Accra in 1965, Abatcha started wandering to other
Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...
n capitals always searching support for his project of beginning an insurgency against Tombalbaye. The first capital he reached in 1965 was
Algiers Algiers is the capital city of Algeria as well as the capital of the Algiers Province; it extends over many Communes of Algeria, communes without having its own separate governing body. With 2,988,145 residents in 2008Census 14 April 2008: Offi ...
, where the UNT had already a representative, probably Djalabo. His attempts were unsuccessful, as were those made from there to persuade the Chadian students in France to join him in his fight. From there he traveled to
Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...
, where a small secret committee of anti-government Chadian students of the
Al-Azhar University The Al-Azhar University ( ; , , ) is a public university in Cairo, Egypt. Associated with Al-Azhar Al-Sharif in Islamic Cairo, it is Egypt's oldest degree-granting university and is known as one of the most prestigious universities for Islamic ...
had formed. The students in Cairo had developed a strong political sensitivity because they had come to resent that the degrees obtained by them in Arab countries were of no use in Chad, as French was the only official language. Among these students Abatcha recruited his first supporters, and with the help of the UPC Cameroonian exiles contacted the
North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...
n embassy in Egypt, which offered him a military stage. Seven Cairo students volunteered, leaving Egypt in June 1965 and returning in October; these were to be with Abatcha the first military cadres of the rebels. Abatcha with his "Koreans" went then to Sudan in October 1965. Once in Sudan Abatcha found fertile ground for further recruitment, as many Chadian refugees lived there. Abatcha was also able to enroll in his movement former Sudanese soldiers, including a few officers, of whom the most distinguished was to become Hadjaro Senoussi. He also contacted Mohamed Baghlani, who was in communication with the first Chadian insurgents already active in Chad, and with the insurgent group Liberation Front of Chad (FLT).


Creation of the FROLINAT

This merger was negotiated during the congress at
Nyala The lowland nyala or simply nyala (''Tragelaphus angasii'') is a spiral-horned artiodactyl antelope native to Southern Africa. The species is part of the family Bovidae and the genus '' Tragelaphus'' (formerly placed in the genus ''Nyala''). It ...
between June 19 and June 22, 1966, in which the UNT and another rebel force, the Liberation Front of Chad (FLT) combined, giving birth to the FROLINAT, whose first secretary-general was agreed to be Abatcha. The two groups were ideologically ill-fitted, as they combined the radicalism of the UNT and the Muslim beliefs of the FLT. FLT's president, Ahmed Hassan Musa, missed the conference because he was imprisoned in
Khartoum Khartoum or Khartum is the capital city of Sudan as well as Khartoum State. With an estimated population of 7.1 million people, Greater Khartoum is the largest urban area in Sudan. Khartoum is located at the confluence of the White Nile – flo ...
; Musa suspected with some reason that Abatcha had deliberately chosen the moment of his incarceration to organize the conference due to his fear of FLT's numerical superiority over the UNT. As a result, once freed Musa broke with the FROLINAT, the first of many splits that were to plague the history of the organization.V. Thompson & R. Adloff, 52 Thus Abatcha had to face from the beginning a level of considerable internal strife, with the opposition guided by the anti-communist Mohamed Baghlani. The unity was stronger on the field, with Abatcha and his so-called Koreans passing to Eastern Chad in mid-1966 to fight the government, and El Hadj Issaka assuming the role of his chief of staff. While his ''maquis'' were badly trained and equipped, they were able to commit some hit-and-run attacks against the Chadian army, mainly in Ouaddai, but also in Guera and Salamat. The rebels also toured the villages, indoctrinating the people on the future revolution and exhorting youths to join the FROLINAT forces.V. Thompson & R. Adloff, 53 The following year Abatcha expanded his range and number of operations, officially claiming in his dispatches 32 actions, involving
prefectures A prefecture (from the Latin word, "''praefectura"'') is an administrative jurisdiction traditionally governed by an appointed prefect. This can be a regional or local government subdivision in various countries, or a subdivision in certain inter ...
previously untouched by the rebellion, that is Moyen-Chari and Kanem.C. Bouquet, 132 Mainly due to Abatcha's qualities as both secretary-general and field-commander, what had started in 1965 as a peasant uprising was becoming a revolutionary movement.V. Thompson & R. Adloff, 54


Abatcha's death

On January 20, 1968, his men killed on the Goz Beida-
Abéché Abéché (, ''Absha'') is a city in Chad and the capital of the Ouaddaï Region. It is one of the List of cities in Chad, largest cities in the country and has within it the remnants of the ancient capital, including palaces, mosques, and the tom ...
road a Spanish veterinary and a French doctor, while they took hostage a French
nurse Nursing is a health care profession that "integrates the art and science of caring and focuses on the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and human functioning; prevention of illness and injury; facilitation of healing; and alle ...
. Abatcha disavowed this action and ordered his men to free the nurse, but due to these actions, on February 11, he was tracked down by the Chadian army and killed in a clash. Abatcha's death was the end of an important phase in the history of the FROLINAT and more generally of the
rebellion Rebellion is an uprising that resists and is organized against one's government. A rebel is a person who engages in a rebellion. A rebel group is a consciously coordinated group that seeks to gain political control over an entire state or a ...
. Abatcha had been the one generally acceptable leader of the insurrection; after him the FROLINAT was more and more divided by inner rivalries, making it more difficult to provide the insurgents with a coherent organization.


References

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Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abatcha, Ibrahim 1938 births 1968 deaths Chadian rebels Chadian socialists Chadian exiles Chadian Muslims Chadian National Union politicians People from N'Djamena People from Borno State Immigrants to Chad Nigerian emigrants Muslim socialists