Zouar ( ar, زوار) is a town in the Tibesti Ouest

department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

of the

Tibesti The Tibesti Mountains are a mountain range in the central Sahara, primarily located in the extreme north of Chad, with a small portion located in southern Libya. The highest peak in the range, Emi Koussi, lies to the south at a height of and is ...

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

in northern

Chad Chad (; ar, تشاد , ; french: Tchad, ), officially the Republic of Chad, '; ) is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic ...

, located in an

oasis In ecology, an oasis (; ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment'ksar''with its surrounding feeding source, the palm grove, within a relational and circulatory nomadic system.” The location of oases has been of critical imp ...

in the

Tibesti Mountains The Tibesti Mountains are a mountain range in the central Sahara, primarily located in the extreme north of Chad, with a small portion located in southern Libya. The highest peak in the range, Emi Koussi, lies to the south at a height of and i ...

. Prior to 2008 it was in the

Tibesti Department Tibesti ( ar, تبستي) was one of four departments within the former Bourkou-Ennedi-Tibesti region of Chad. Its capital was Bardaï. In 2008 the Bourkou-Ennedi-Tibesti Region was split into three, with Tibesti Department becoming the separ ...

of the former

Bourkou-Ennedi-Tibesti region The Borkou-Ennedi-Tibesti (BET) was until 2008 one of the then 18 regions of Chad, its capital being Faya-Largeau. It comprised the former Borkou-Ennedi-Tibesti Prefecture. Most of the region was part of the Sahara desert. In 2008, this region wa ...

The seat of the ''

derde The ''derde'' (derda, derdai, dardai) of Toubou residence at Zouar Tibesti is the title held by the highest religious and political authority for all Toubou Fron south Libya, north Chad, and northeast of Niger. He is elected among the three most ...

'', the highest religious and political authority among the Teda of the Tibesti, the town came under French control in 1917. 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 FROLINAT (french: Front de libération nationale du Tchad; en, National Liberation Front of Chad) was an insurgent rebel group active in Chad between 1966 and 1993. Origins The organization was a result of the political union between the left ...

rebels led by Mahamat Ali Taher, and was relieved only by the arrival in August of a French expeditionary force. One of the last strongholds held by the government in the north, it was attacked in June 1977 by the

People's Armed Forces The People's Armed Forces (''Forces Armées Populaires'' or FAP) was a Chadian insurgent group composed of followers of Goukouni Oueddei after the schism with Hissène Habré in 1976. With an ethnic base in the Teda clan of the Toubou from the Ti ...

(FAP), forcing the garrison to evacuate. 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 french: Armée nationale tchadienne , image = , alt = , caption = , image2 = , alt2 = , caption2 = , motto ...

once and for all freed Zouar. In October 1998, with the foundation of the insurgent

Movement for Democracy and Justice in Chad Movement for Democracy and Justice in Chad (french: Mouvement pour la democratie et la justice au Tchad, abbreviated as MDJT) is a Chadian rebel group that tried to oust the government of the current Chadian president Idriss Déby from October 1998� ...

(MDJT), civil war has erupted again in the north. The MDJT commander,

Youssouf Togoimi Yusuf ( ar, يوسف ') is a male name of Arabic origin meaning "God increases" (in piety, power and influence).From the Hebrew יהוה להוסיף ''YHWH Lhosif'' meaning "YHWH will increase/add". It is the Arabic equivalent of the Hebrew name ...

, 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. On 18 March 2006 the MDJT started besieging the town. Zouar is also the birthplace of the former

Head of State A head of state (or chief of state) is the public persona who officially embodies a state Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representatitve of its international persona." in its unity and l ...

Goukouni Oueddei Goukouni Oueddei ( ar, كوكوني عويدي '; born 1944 in Zouar) 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 Civi ...

and of the

MDJT Movement for Democracy and Justice in Chad (french: Mouvement pour la democratie et la justice au Tchad, abbreviated as MDJT) is a Chadian rebel group that tried to oust the government of the current Chadian president Idriss Déby from October 1998 ...

founder Youssouf Togoimi, respectively born in 1944 and 1953. The town is served by

Zouar Airport Zouar Airport is a public use airport located near Zouar, Tibesti, Chad. See also *List of airports in Chad This is a list of airports in Chad, grouped by type and sorted by location. Chad, officially known as the Republic of Chad (french: ...

References

{{Reflist * https://web.archive.org/web/20111022042915/http://www.zouar.net/ Populated places in Chad Tibesti Region Oases of Chad Tibesti Mountains