Abéché

Abéché أبشي
Main Road in Abeche
Abéché Location in Chad
Coordinates: 13°49′59″N 20°50′05″E / 13.83306°N 20.83472°E / 13.83306; 20.83472
Country	Chad
Region	Ouaddaï Region
Department	Ouara
Sub-Prefecture	Abéché
Elevation	542 m (1,778 ft)
Population (2012)
• Total	76,492
Time zone	Central Africa (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	not observed (UTC+1)

Abéché (Arabic: أبشي, ʾAbishī) is the 4th largest city in Chad, the capital of Ouaddaï Region. The town is served by Abéché Airport. It has within it the remnants of the ancient capital, including palaces, mosques, and the tombs of former sultans.

The city of Abéché was made capital of the Wadai Sultanate in the 1890s, after the wells at Ouara, the former capital, had dried out. In 1909, French troops invaded the Kingdom and established a garrison in Abéché. France took power, forcing the sultan to renounce his throne. At that time, Abéché was the largest city in Chad with 28,000 people, but major epidemics reduced the population to 6000 in 1919. In 1935, the sultanate was restored by orders of the French government, and Muhammed Ouarada, heir to the throne after his father became king. Once one of the strongholds of the Arabic slave trade route, the city is known today for its markets, mosques, church, square (the Place de l'Indépendance) and for its sultan's palace. Abéché has several schools, a hospital, a university and is one of the major garrisons of the Armee Nationale du Tchad ANT . There is a small airport (IATA: AEH, ICAO: FTTC), Airport ID: AE, operated sunrise to sunset (SR-SS) with flights to N'Djaména.

On 25 November 2006, the city was taken by the Union of Forces for Democracy, a rebel group that seeks to depose president Idriss Déby. Extensive looting took place during the night. On the same day, nearby Biltine was captured by the Rally of Democratic Forces, another rebel group. A day later, both cities were retaken by the Chadian army.