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François Tombalbaye | |
|---|---|
فرنسوا تومبالباي | |
.jpg) Tombalbaye in October 1959 | |
| 1st President of Chad | |
| In office 11 August 1960 – 13 April 1975 | |
| Prime Minister | None |
| Succeeded by | Noël Milarew Odingar (as interim head of state) |
| Colonial Prime Minister of Chad | |
| In office 26 March 1959 – 11 August 1960 | |
| Preceded by | Ahmed Koulamallah (as President of Provisional Govt.) |
| Succeeded by | Hissène Habré (as PM of independent Chad, in 1978) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | François Tombalbaye فرنسوا تومبالباي (1918-06-15)15 June 1918 |
| Died | 13 April 1975(1975-04-13) (aged 56) N'Djamena, Chad |
| Cause of death | Murdered by soldiers in the1975 Chadian coup d'état |
| Political party | PPT(1947–1973) MNRCS(1973–1975) |
| Profession | Teacher trade unionist |
| Religion | Protestant |
| Signature | .png) |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  Chad |
| Branch/service | Free French Forces |
| Battles/wars | World War II Chadian Civil War (1965–1979) † |
François Tombalbaye (Arabic:فرنسوا تومبالبايFranswā Tūmbālbāy; 15 June 1918 – 13 April 1975), also known asN'Garta Tombalbaye, was a Chadian politician who served as the firstPresident of Chad from the country's independence in 1960 until his overthrow in 1975. A dictatorial leader, his divisive policies as president led to factional conflict and a pattern of authoritarian leadership and political instability that is still relevant in Chad today.
A native of the south of the country and a member of theSara ethnic group, Tombalbaye began his career as a teacher duringFrench colonial rule and joined theChadian Progressive Party (PPT) in 1946. After serving in the colonial legislature in the 1950s, he succeededGabriel Lisette as the PPT's leader in 1959 and was appointed the country's first president upon gaining independence in 1960. In 1962, he declared the PPT thesole legal party and presided over a corrupt dictatorship characterized by extreme favoritism to his southern-based patronage network. In addition to his dictatorial rule, he also attempted an Africanization program that worsened the divide between the Muslim north and the Christian and animist south. In 1965,tax riots erupted into acivil war between his government and northernFROLINAT rebels. During the war, his regime was supported by France, while FROLINAT was supported byLibyan leaderMuammar Gaddafi.
In 1973, he founded a new party, theNational Movement for the Cultural and Social Revolution (MNRCS), changed his name to N'Garta Tombalbaye and attempted to further Africanize the country through a program ofauthenticité. As the civil war continued and his support in the south dwindled, particularly over his imposition ofyondo, a form of ritual scarring on members of the civil service and military, he was overthrown and assassinated by members of the Chadian military during the1975 Chadian coup d'état and replaced byFélix Malloum.
Tombalbaye was born on 15 June 1918 in the village ofBessada, in the southern region of theFrench colony of Chad, close to the city ofKoumra. His father was a prominent trader and he was of theSara ethnic group, the prominent ethnicity of Chad's five southern prefectures. He attended a primary school, run by Protestant missionaries, inSarh, and secondary school inBrazzaville. As a young man, Tombalbaye studied to become an educator in Brazzaville, due to the lack of in-country schools.
During World War II, Tombalbaye fought forFree France against the Nazi-backedVichy regime.
In 1946/7, Tombalbaye formed a chapter of theChadian Progressive Party (PPT) in Sarh and rallied members of his clan and otherSara speakers to the party. After a Muslim trader mocked the Sara people as mere beasts in November 1947, he helped to direct violent protest in N'Djamena. In 1949, the French government revoked his teaching position as punishment to his involvement in political activism. A year later, he went on to direct the PPT newspaper,AEF Nouvelle, which was shut down the same year after French repression. In 1952, he won a seat in the colonial territorial assembly and was elected to French Equatorial Africa general council in 1957, where he served as vice-president. Tensions between him and Lisette grew in the late 1950s after the 1956loi-cadre reforms where individual colonies politicians were allowed to negotiate their own constituents, rather than maintain the federation of colonies of French Equatorial Africa.[1] He later succeededGabriel Lisette as head of theChadian Progressive Party (PPT) in March 1959 after coming under pressure, heading Chad's colonial government from 1959. He ruled the country during its independence on 11 August 1960, and was appointed its first head of government.
Tombalbaye managed to create a coalition of progressive forces from both the north and south of the country and isolating the more conservativeIslamic factions in the center as a colonial legislator. After independence, he adopted an autocratic form of government, eliminated opposition both within his party and outside his party by banning all other political parties. In 1963 Tombalbaye dissolved the National Assembly in response to rioting. He began nationalizing the civil service, replacing French administrators with less competent locals. He imposed a "National Loan", greatly increasing taxing, to fund the nationalization.
In October 1968, Tombalbaye was a guest of PresidentLyndon B. Johnson in Washington, D.C. Following brief talks with Johnson, he traveled to Texas, meeting with research scientists at ICASALS (International Center for Arid and Semiarid Land Studies), part ofTexas Tech University.
Tombalbaye'sAfricanization program failed to account for the large population in the north and center of the country, who wereMuslim and did not identify with the Christian andanimist south. TheGorane saw independence as a shift of control from French colonials to the south. On 1 November 1965,riots inGuéra Prefecture led to 500 deaths as a result of protest against high taxes and corruption. This sparked a series of disturbances throughout the north and center of the country, compounded by involvement by Chad's neighbors,Libya to the north andSudan to the east. The most prominent movement in this period was theFROLINAT, or 'National Liberation Front of Chad', based in Sudan. Though FROLINAT was plagued by rivalry and division, it was able to resist Tombalbaye's authoritarianism. Tombalbaye called upon France, Chad's former colonial power, for assistance, citing treaties two countries had signed at independence.
France agreed to enter the fray, provided that Tombalbaye initiate a series of reforms to the army, government, and civil service. Taxes and laws imposed arbitrarily by Tombalbaye were to be rescinded, and the country's traditionalsultans had their role as tax collectors restored, for which they received 10% of the income. He agreed to France's terms in 1969 and Chad embarked on a gradual liberalization process. Inelections in 1969, several hundredpolitical prisoners were released from prison, but Tombalbaye was still the only candidate on the ballot.
A further sign of liberalization came in 1971 when Tombalbaye admitted to the Congress of the PPT that he had made mistakes. Steps were taken to reform the government, and moreGorane were included in his new government. Order seemed to have been restored, and France withdrew its troops from the country.
During the early 1970s, he chose to follow DRC strongmanMobutu Sese Seko in his move towards remaking African cultural institutions.
Progress came to a grinding halt in August 1971, when an attempted coup d'état with links to Libyan leaderMuammar al-Gaddafi was uncovered. Tombalbaye immediately severed relations with his northern neighbor and even allowed anti-Gaddafi forces to operate from his territory. In return, Qadhafi granted formal recognition and aid to what remained of the FROLINAT opposition to Tombalbaye. Meanwhile, in the south, where Tombalbaye had his greatest support, he responded to astrike by students by replacing the popular Chief of StaffJacques Doumro with ColonelFélix Malloum. Chad was in the grip of a crippling drought, and Tombalbaye rescinded hisamnesty to political prisoners. By the end of 1972, over 1,000 political prisoners had been arrested. At the same time, he also made overtures to theArab world, reducing Libyan support for, and fomenting infighting in, FROLINAT.
Nevertheless, Tombalbaye felt insecure with his own government as well. Tombalbaye arrested major PPT leaders, including Malloum, for allegedly usingwitchcraft to overthrow him in what was known as the "Black Sheep Plot", for the animals they allegedlysacrificed.[citation needed] The politicianKalthouma Nguembang was also implicated in this plot; she was arrested and tortured as a result.[2]
In August, Tombalbaye disbanded the PPT and replaced it with theNational Movement for the Cultural and Social Revolution (MNRCS). Under the guise ofauthenticité, the new movement promoted Africanization: the capital of Fort-Lamy was renamedN'Djamena and Tombalbaye himself changed his given name from François to Ngarta. Christianity was disparaged,missionaries were expelled, and all non-Muslim males in the south between the ages of sixteen and fifty were required to undergo traditional initiation rites known asyondo to gain promotion in the civil service and the military. These rites, however, were native to only one of Chad's ethnic groups, Tombalbaye's ownSara people, and even then, only to a subgroup of that people. To everyone else, the rituals, which included floggings, burning with coals, and mock burials,[3] were harsh and foreign.
Meanwhile, the drought worsened throughout Africa, so to improve the dismal economy, people were forced to "volunteer" in a major effort to increase cotton production. With his support in the south diminished, Tombalbaye lashed out at the army, making arbitrary promotions and demotions. Finally, on 13 April 1975, after some of the country's leading officers had been arrested for involvement in an alleged coup, he was reportedly shot in his own palace, succumbing to his gunshot wounds afterwards. His body was secretly buried inFaya. The military installed Félix Malloum, by then a general, as the new head of state.
| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by (none) | Head of State of Chad 1960–1975 | Succeeded by |
| Colonial |  | |
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| Independent | ||
*acting | ||
| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
