Ibrahim Abatcha - in Exile

In Exile

After his release, the UNT cadres decided that if the political situation in Chad became too unbearable to consent the party to survive, it would have been wise to send out of the country some party members so that the organization would in any case maintain its existence. Thus Abatcha, who held the position of second adjutant secretary-general of the UNT, was sent in 1963 to Accra, Ghana, where he was later joined by UNT members Aboubakar Djalabo and Mahamat Ali Taher. By going in exile the UNT members meant also to ensure their personal safety and organize abroad an armed revolt in Chad. As part of the means to kept the unity of the movement, Abatcha wrote for the UNT a policy statement; this draft was to be the core of the official program of the FROLINAT.

Abatcha led the typical life of the Third World dissident in search of support in foreign capitals, first finishing in Accra, Ghana, where he received his first military training and made friends among members of the Union of the Peoples of Cameroon that had found asylum there. These Cameroonians helped him being present at conferences organized by international communist groups.

After having left Accra in 1965, Abatcha started wandering to other African capitals always searching support for his project of beginning an insurgency against Tombalbaye. The first capital he reached was in 1965 Algiers, where the UNT had already a representative, probably Djalabo. His attempts were unsuccessful, as were those made from there to persuade the Chadian students in France to join him in his fight. From there he moved to Cairo, where a small secret committee of anti-government Chadian students of the Al-Azhar University: the students there had developed a strong political sensitivity because they had come to resent that the degrees obtained by them in Arab countries were of no use in Chad, as French was the only official language. Among these Abatcha recruited his first supporters, and with the help of the UPC Cameroonian exiles contacted the North Korean embassy in Egypt, which offered him a military stage. Seven Cairo students volunteered, leaving Egypt in June 1965 and returning in October; these were to be with Abatcha the first military cadres of the rebels. Abatcha with his "Koreans" moved then to Sudan in October 1965.

Once in Sudan Abatcha found a rich ground for further recruitment, as many Chadian refugees lived there. Abatcha was also able to obtain to enroll in his movement former Sudanese soldiers, including a few officers, of whom the most distinguished was to become Hadjaro Senoussi. He also took contact with Mohamed Baghlani, who was in communication with the first Chadian insurgents already active, and with the insurgent group Liberation Front of Chad (FLT).