1) There is no information presently available to the IRBDC regarding the existence of a "black list" of President Habre's opponents.

2) In 1987, as Commander in Chief of the Chadian Armed Forces, Hassan Djamous, victoriously re-conquered Chadian territory which was occupied by Libya. [Foreign Broadcast Information Service, Daily Report Sub-Sahara Africa, Washington: FBIS-Afr-89-064, 5 April 1989, p.1.] He was wounded in the head on 22 March 1987, while leading an attack on the Libyan Air Force base at Ouadi Duom. [ibid.] Information contained within these reports states that Hassan Djamous was the Commander in Chief of the Chadian Armed Forces until April 1989. [ibid.]

3) According to the FBIS report, during the weekend of 1-2 April 1989, four top government officials from the Zakhawas ethnic group in the Biltine region on the border with Sudan, attempted an unsuccessful coup in Ndjamena, the capital of Chad. The only visible element of the coup was the movement of troops in Ndjamena; no reports of gunfire were reported and life returned to normal on the following Monday, 3 April 1989. [FBIS-AFR-89-065, 6 April 1989, p.2.]

The four coup plotters were high ranking government officials, two of whom, Hassan Djamous and Mahamat Itno, had been considered faithful to President Hissein Habre. [ibid.] Mahamat Itno, the Interior Minister had spearheaded a reconciliation campaign which had resulted in numerous opposition figures rallying to the government during 1988. [Keesing's Record of World Events - News Digest for April 1989, p. 36581.]

It was not till 14 April 1989 that the government made its first statement regarding the coup, claiming to have "put an end to this senseless adventure and annihilated this band of traitors". [ibid.] Later it was announced that Mahamat Itno had been arrested on 1 April and that Hassan Djamous had been wounded and captured along with some fleeing troops in the central Sudanese border on 10 April 1989. [ibid.] Idris Deby, the Presidential Adviser, was initially reported to have been killed, but later it was confirmed that he had escaped to Sudan and, Chadian sources in Paris stated that he arrived in Libya on 29 April 1989. [ibid.]

On 6 April 1989, FBIS reported that an active government search for Hassan Djamous and Idris Deby was underway in the Biltine region of Chad. They were reported to have fled Ndjamena in the company of an unspecified number of armed men. [FBIS-AFR-89-065, 6 April 1989, p.2.]

4) Unconfirmed reports suggest that Hassan Djamous and Idris Deby were helping to organize guerrilla activities among the Zaghawa and the Hadjerai tribespeople in central Chad, and across the border in Darfur, Sudan. [FBIS-AFR-89-065, 6 April 1989, p.2.] There have been reports of serious intertribal fighting in Darfur, where many hundreds of people have reportedly been killed and their villages burned. [Keesing's Record of World Events - News Digest for May 1989, p.36646.] The Sudanese government claims that three of the coup leaders fled into Sudan and that Sudanese troops had been dispatched to Darfur to halt incursions by Chadian government troops pursuing the rebels. [Keesing's, April 1989, p. 36581.]
According to Africa Confidential, 14 April 1989, the coup attempt was reportedly sparked off by the arrest and rumoured death of Siddick Ali Fadoul, Hassan Djamous's brother-in-law, while in custody in May 1988. President Habre had reportedly suspected him of supplying information to the Libyans. Siddick Ali Fadoul's brother, Hassan Fadoul, fled to Libya, and was subsequently reported to be organizing anti-Habre guerrilla activities in the Zaghawa heartland. [Keesing's, April 1989, p.36581.]

The coup leaders were reported to have opposed the appointment of Acheikh ibn Oumar as Foreign Minister in March 1989. [ibid.] He was the leader of the pro-Libyan Comité D'Action Revolutionnaire CDR, against President Habre's government. ["Chad: Habre at the Turning Point", Africa Confidential, Vol.30 No.9., London: Miramoor Publications Ltd., 28 April 1989.] Hassan Djamous, Idris Deby and Mahamat Itno reportedly resented the way in which opposition leaders had been awarded privileges for agreeing to reconcile with Habre's regime. Hassan Djamous and Idris Deby, who had played leading roles in arranging the alliance between the Zaghawa and the President's Gorane tribe, felt that the policy of reconciliation had excluded the Zaghawa from power. [Keesing's, April 1989, p.36581.]

5) The BBC Summary of World Broadcasts reported that Hassan Djamous, who had been wounded and captured after fierce fighting with government troops, died of his wounds in the Military Hospital in Ndjamena in April. The BBC states that this event was not reported until 29 May 1989 by Agence France Presse. ["Leader of Attempted Coup Reportedly Dead", BBC Summary of World Broadcasts, 31 May 1989.]
There is no information presently available to the IRBDC pertaining to the arrest or execution of Hassan Djamous' relatives and friends, beyond the case of his brother-in-law and his cousin, Mahamat Itno. ["Chad: New Constitution", New African, (London: IC Publications, August 1989), pp.21-22.] Members of the Chadian Nationalis' Rally, an opposition group issued a communique in Brussles stating that after the Hadjerai, "it is now the turn of the Zaghawa to be persecuted". [FBIS-AFR-89-065, 6 April 1989, p.2.]

Attached please find excerpts form the following documents:

George T. Kurian, Encyclopedia of the Third World, Third Edition, Vol.I., (New York: Facts On File, Inc., 1987), pp.393-407.

George E. Delury, ed., World Encyclopedia of Political Systems and Parties, Vol.I., (New York: Facts On File Publications, 1987), pp.184-188.

Foreign Broadcast Information Service, Sub-Sahara Africa, Washington: FBIS, 5-6 April 1989.

Keesing's Record of World Events, News Digest for April and May 1989.

Africa Confidential, London: Miramoor Publications Ltd., 22 January-12 May 1989.

BBC Summary of World Broadcasts, 6 April - 31 May 1989.

"Chad: New Constitution", New African, (London: IC Publications, August 1989), pp.21-22.
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