Negue Djogo

Who is Negue Djogo?

Negue Djogo was a Chadian officer and politician.

A French-trained Sara officer, his first prominent assignment came in 1966 when, still a lieutenant, he was made by President François Tombalbaye prefect of the key Bourkou-Ennedi-Tibesti region, which France, Chad's former colonial power, had evacuated only in 1964, four years after the independence of the country. He was among those accused of misrule by the French Administrative Reform Mission in 1969, for his contempt of Muslim traditions and especially of the dia, the blood wealth.

All the same, under Tombalbaye Djogo made a fast career and became general and Chief of Staff of the Chadian Armed Forces, when he was arrested by the President on March 23, 1975 in what was yet another of many purges in the army. He did not remain long in jail: on April 13 a military coup removed Tombalbaye. Immediately freed from jail, the coupists offered him the presidency of the new military junta, but when he declined they asked Félix Malloum, who on April 15 assumed the position of new head of state of the country.

Malloum's military government crumbled in 1979 when the Prime Minister Hissène Habré, a former Muslim warlord, broke with the President on February 12 and attacked the capital N'Djamena with his militia, the Armed Forces of the North. The army's Head of staff, general Nguemourou, reacted weakly and finally resigned the command to Djogo on February 14. His authority was early contested by the colonel Wadel Abdelkader Kamougué, the head of the gendarmerie, the military police, which was the sole unit of the army that did not disintegrate in the battle; and when the FAT, defeated, left the capital for Southern Chad on April 15, Kamougué was in command while Djogo remained at N'Djamena.