Armed Forces of the North | |
Native Name: | Forces Armées du Nord |
War: | the Chadian Civil War (1965–1979) |
Active: | 1976–February 1983 |
Leaders: | Hissène Habré |
Ideology: | Chadian nationalism Anti-communism Anti-Gaddafism |
Headquarters: | Tripoli |
Area: | Chad |
Successor: | Chadian National Armed Forces |
Split: | FROLINAT |
Allies: | United States France Morocco Sudan |
Opponents: | GUNT FROLINAT |
The Armed Forces of the North (French: Forces Armées du Nord, FAN) was a Chadian rebel army active during the Chadian Civil War. Composed of FROLINAT units that remained loyal to Hissène Habré following his break from Goukouni Oueddei and the CCFAN in 1976. Consisting at first of only a few hundred Toubou and some Hajerai and Ouaddaïan fighters, FAN began its operations from bases in eastern Chad, where it received help from Sudan. Driven from N'Djamena back to its eastern refuge after the Libyan incursion of 1980, FAN scored a series of victories over Goukouni's Transitional Government of National Unity (GUNT) forces in 1982, which culminated in the recapture of N'Djamena and Habré's assumption of the presidency.[1] FAN became the core of the new national army, Chadian National Armed Forces (FANT), in February 1983.