Chad, 2006 — dissident coup attempt
Event Summary
On 13 April 2006 rebels of the United Front for Democratic Change stormed the Chadian capital N'Djamena in a dramatic bid to overthrow President Idriss Deby, racing hundreds of kilometers across the country from bases in Darfur and the Central African Republic before being repelled in fierce street fighting. The assault came at the opening of the 2005 to 2010 civil war, in which an array of rebel groups, many led by former Deby allies embittered by his corruption and his manipulation of the constitution to run for a third term, sought to unseat him with covert backing from Sudan, then locked in a proxy conflict with Chad over Darfur. Between 1,200 and 1,500 FUC fighters under Mahamat Nour Abdelkarim, mounted in dozens of pickup trucks, dashed to the capital and battled security forces in the streets; hundreds were killed before government forces, with French logistical support, crushed the attack.
Deby survived and went on to win re election weeks later. The FUC rebels rallied to the government that December, but the underlying rebellion persisted, culminating in an even larger assault on N'Djamena in February 2008.
Researched Details
Researched
Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.
Sources
Editorial Note
Cross-Reference
Only one dataset carries it. One of the three reference datasets we check against carries this event; the others do not list it. That is not a contradiction — the datasets cover different periods and use different thresholds — but it means the record has had less outside corroboration.
Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:
- Cline Center id
48304132006
How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.
Outcome and Target
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: President Idriss Deby repelled the April 2006 FUC rebel assault on N'Djamena and won reelection weeks later.
Baseline coding: Coup attempt failed to remove the incumbent. Recorded leader fate: remained in office; not physically harmed. The baseline file does not name individual targets; researched names are kept in a separate layer.
Baseline Dataset Citation
Baseline Source-Document Entries
Powell and Thyne
Chicago Tribune
Edmonton Journal
International Herald Tribune
This is the citation trail carried by the baseline dataset, grouped by outlet and rejoined from the line-wrapped original. Coup Atlas has not independently re-checked every document; read the original before citing a specific claim. URLs the import damaged beyond safe repair are shown as plain text and listed in citations-report.md. How this list is built →