[7] The country's first president, François Tombalbaye, was a southerner whose government quickly proved to be corrupt, granting favors to his political supporters in the south while marginalizing the rest of Chad.

These accords included a secret provision which allowed Chad to request direct French military intervention in the event they were need to ensure the domestic "maintenance of order".

[24] The situation climaxed on 1 November 1965, when intense riots broke out in Mangalmé, Guéra prefecture that left over 500 people dead, including a representative to the National Assembly and nine other public officials.

[36] Abatcha tapped El Hajj Issaka, a deposed customary chief who had organised resistance in Dar Sila, as his top military commander.

Nevertheless, the diversity of political philosophies in FROLINAT laid the groundwork for future divisions;[38] over time the rebels increasingly split into factions, headed by independent-minded commanders and backed by different ethnic groups.

However King Idris of Libya had no desire to clash with the French who backed Tombalbaye; accordingly the Libyans initially limited themselves to providing non-combat support such as nonlethal supplies and bases.

It established footholds in Batha, Salamat, Wadai, and Guéra prefectures, where its members plotted the assassination of government officials and ambushed army detachments.

[44] Frustrated at the army's inability to suppress rebellion in central Chad, he created the Compagnies Tchadiennes de Securité (CTS), an Israeli-trained unit under his personal control.

[48] The following month Tobou members of a Nomadic Guard contingent near the northern town of Aouzou mutinied and joined rebels in besieging the locale.

[14][51] President Charles de Gaulle promptly agreed,[52] and France quickly organised an expeditionary force with the goal "to make possible the reinstallation of Chadian administration in the BET".

[51] Neither Tombalbaye nor the French sought to completely suppress the rebellion; the former feared the political fallout of brutal repression in the north, while the latter wished to avoid an expensive and drawn out conflict.

French A4 Skyraiders were deployed to the BET to provide air support to Chadian ground forces while transport aircraft conducted parachute drops to resupply the Aouzou garrison.

Rebels abducted and murdered village leaders, robbed and mutilated traders, destroyed infrastructure, and attacked communities suspected of sympathising with the government.

For their part, Chadian forces killed numerous civilians, held public executions of insurgents and "sympathisers", and in at least one case burnt a village in Wadai for the alleged rebel sympathies of its populace.

[58] However, Siddick's favoritism and leadership style made him unpopular, and other frontline rebel commanders gradually broke away,[41] organizing factions backed by certain regions and ethnicities.

[65] The civilian component primarily comprised the Mission pour la réforme administrative (MRA), headed by former colonial governor Pierre Lami [fr].

[56] Eager to avoid another crisis which would lead to calls for another intervention, the French pushed for the Chadian government to implement reforms that would generate reconciliation and ease inter-regional relations.

Tombalbaye continued to rule Chad unabated as a one-party state,[76] though he stressed national reconciliation and reshuffled his cabinet to include more Muslims and northerners.

[77] Observers suspected that Gaddafi's declared enemy Israel had been involved in the coup attempt; Israeli Mossad agents were still training the Chadian CTS at this point.

[3] Despite helping Tombalbaye in containing the insurgency, the deal with Libya greatly damaged his reputation within the military,[3] which, proud of its success in fighting FROLINAT, sought to assert itself in national politics.

Some analysts believe that the deal with Libya made him feel assured about the security of the country's territory from foreign aggression, and thus he saw the army as less useful and more of a threat to his own authority.

[83] With the rebels weakened due to internal disagreements and reduced Libyan support, the French launched Operation Languedoc in early 1972 to crush the First Liberation Army in the east.

[87] Senior officers, joined by army commander General Noël Milarew Odingar, mounted an attack on the presidential palace, killing Tombalbaye.

In his position he requested the removal of French military units from Chad, resulting in France abandoning the 172 Fort-Lamy Air Base at N'Djamena International Airport.

[17] The end of Tombalbaye's regime caused Gaddafi to restart his support for the insurgents, as Malloum denounced the Libyan occupation of the Aouzou Strip and repudiated the 1972 deal.

In 1976, Gaddafi hinted at his intention of officially annexing the Aouzou Strip, while sending the Libyan military for forays into central Chad to assist allied rebels.

The latter implemented a support operation that halted the rebels in southern Chad at the price of eighteen French military dead and the loss of two SEPECAT Jaguar 5 aircraft.

The accord formally dissolved the council and replaced it with a provisional national unity government that was to run Chad until it could organise elections for a constituent assembly.

Power was turned over to an eight-person provisional council headed by Oueddei, pending a permanent solution on government to be decided at a conference in the Nigerian city of Kano.

[97] On 21 August the delegates signed the Lagos Accord, which outlined the establishment of a new Transitional Government of National Unity (known by its French acronym GUNT) to be sworn in in November.