# Massacres in the North and South (1979)

URL: https://allhistories.com/chad/timeline/1979-massacres-in-the-north-and-south
Location: Sarh, Moyen-Chari
Themes: main-event

The collapse of Malloum's government took place against long-standing tensions between the largely Muslim north and centre and the predominantly Christian and animist south, where the Sara and related peoples had dominated the colonial and post-colonial administration. Many Muslim traders and officials from the north lived in southern towns, while southern civil servants and soldiers lived in N'Djamena. As the FAN and FAP took control of N'Djamena in February 1979, southern residents were attacked and many fled south across the Chari. In reprisal, Muslims living in southern centres such as Sarh, Moundou, Doba and Koumra were killed in large numbers in February and March 1979, and survivors fled northwards or into neighbouring countries. Death tolls are uncertain, but contemporary accounts and later historians speak of several thousand victims in the south alone. The massacres turned a political struggle into a deeply communal conflict and produced a de facto partition of the country. The south, emptied of much of its Muslim population, organised its own administration, while the north and centre were contested by rival armed factions. Memories of 1979 continued to shape relations between Chad's regions for decades. At this point in the timeline (February–April 1979), the Chairman of the Supreme Military Council; Head of State; President of Chad was Félix Malloum (15 April 1975 – 23 March 1979). Government: the Prime Minister of Chad was Hissène Habré (29 August 1978 – 23 March 1979).

## Why it matters
The killings hardened the north–south divide and made the de facto partition of Chad in 1979–1982 possible.

Ruler at the Time: [Félix Malloum](https://allhistories.com/chad/rulers/felix-malloum)

Prime Minister of Chad: Hissène Habré (FROLINAT – Armed Forces of the North (FAN))

## Sources
- [Wikipedia — Transitional Government of National Unity (Chad)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transitional_Government_of_National_Unity_(Chad))
- [Encyclopaedia Britannica — Transitional Government of National Unity](https://www.britannica.com/search?query=Transitional+Government+of+National+Unity)
- [Library of Congress Country Study — Chad](https://www.loc.gov/search/?q=Chad+country+study)
- [Wikipedia — Gunt, Libya And Hissène Habré (period overview)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chadian%E2%80%93Libyan_War)