The National and Nomadic Guard of Chad (, ) is one of five defence and security forces in

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 ...

. (The others are the Army, the Gendarmerie, the Police and the Judicial Police.) Article 200 of the

Constitution of 1996 A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...

states that the duties of the GNNT are the protection of politicians, government officials, and government buildings; the maintenance of order in rural areas; and the guarding of prisons and prisoners. These responsibilities remain unchanged in the new Constitution of 2018 but are now in Article 195.

History

The GNNT was first known in the 1960s as the Territorial Guard, but was quickly renamed the Nomad and National Guard, carrying out much the same duties it does today: providing security for officials, government buildings, and

regional government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of a higher-level political or administrative unit, such a ...

posts. Differently from today, the GNN was then dominated by Southerners, with only 250

Toubou The Toubou or Tubu (from Old Tebu, meaning "rock people") are an ethnic group native to the Tibesti Mountains that inhabit the central Sahara in northern Chad, southern Libya, northeastern Niger, and northwestern Sudan. They live either as her ...

. This also explains the resentment that brought in 1968 to the destruction of the GNN garrison of Aozou and the

mutiny Mutiny is a revolt among a group of people (typically of a military or a crew) to oppose, change, or remove superiors or their orders. The term is commonly used for insubordination by members of the military against an officer or superior, ...

of the Toubou units, forming (the Second Army) of the

FROLINAT FROLINAT (; ) was an insurgent rebel group active in Chad between 1966 and 1993. Origins The organization was the result of the political union between the leftist Chadian National Union (UNT), led by Ibrahim Abatcha, and the General Union of ...

. Notwithstanding this setback, President

François Tombalbaye François Tombalbaye ( '; 15 June 1918 – 13 April 1975), also known as N'Garta Tombalbaye, was a Chadian politician who served as the first President of Chad from the country's independence in 1960 until his overthrow in 1975. A dictator ...

showed much more trust in the GNN than in the Army; by 1971, its numbers had risen to at least 3,500, commanded by Camille Gourvenec, a

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

officer and Director of Information Services (

espionage Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering, as a subfield of the intelligence field, is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information ( intelligence). A person who commits espionage on a mission-specific contract is called an ...

). Gourvenec's deputy was Pierre Galopin. When the Chadian Civil War extended itself to the Borkou-Ennedi-Tibesti in 1968, the GNN found itself increasingly on the frontline against the insurgents. The final battle between the insurgency and the

Chadian Armed Forces The Chadian Armed Forces (''Forces Armées Tchadiennes'' or FAT) were the army of the central government of Chad from 1960 to 1979, under the southern presidents François Tombalbaye and Félix Malloum, until the downfall of the latter in 1979, ...

came in 1977–78, when

Goukouni Oueddei Goukouni Oueddei ( '; born 1944) is a Chadian politician who served as President of Chad from 1979 to 1982. A northerner, Goukouni commanded FROLINAT rebels with Libyan support during the first Chadian Civil War against Chad's southern-domin ...

, leader of a FROLINAT faction, conquered all government strongholds in northern Chad, inflicting staggering losses to the armed forces. The GNN in particular lost heavily in early 1978 when Goukouni took Fada and the capital of the Bourkou-Ennedi-Tibesti,

Faya-Largeau Faya-Largeau (also known as Faya, or ) is the largest city in northern Chad and was the capital of the region of Bourkou-Ennedi-Tibesti. It is now in the Borkou Region, which was formed in 2008 from the Borkou Department of the former Bourkou-En ...

. This practically brought an end to the GNN, until it was revived shortly before 1996 by the former

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 ...

Idriss Déby Idriss Déby Itno ( '; 18 June 1952 – 20 April 2021) was a Chadian politician and military officer who was the sixth List of heads of state of Chad, president of Chad from 1991 until his death in 2021 during the 2021 Northern Chad offensive, No ...

Command

The GNNT is under the control of the Ministry for Territorial Administration, unlike the Army and the Gendarmerie, which come under the responsibility of the Ministry of Defence. From May 24, 2006, to June 12, 2019, the GNNT was commanded by Brigadier General Mahamat Saleh Brahim, the cousin of President

. His replacement was General Tahir Ahmat Hissein.

Controversies

While the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

states, in Article 201, that the GNNT must "respect the liberties and rights of man" when exercising its functions, the GNNT has been accused of perpetrating serious

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

violations, as reported by

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

. Following the murder of a GNNT

corporal Corporal is a military rank in use by the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. The rank is usually the lowest ranking non-commissioned officer. In some militaries, the rank of corporal nominally corr ...

, the Guard extrajudicially executed the suspect on November 17, 1996.

Notes

{{Border protection agencies Military of Chad Chadian–Libyan War