Goukouni Oueddei

Goukouni Oueddei (Arabic: كوكوني عويدي‎‎ Kūkūnī ʿWaīday, born 1944) is a Chadian political figure. He was Head of State of Chad from 1979 to 1982.

Goukouni is from the northern half of the country and is the son of Oueddei Kichidemi, derde of the Teda. He entered politics in the late 1960s as a militant in the National Liberation Front of Chad (FROLINAT) led by Abba Siddick. FROLINAT resented the political dominance enjoyed by southerners under the presidency of François Tombalbaye and advocated the participation of central and northern peoples. After Tombalbaye's assassination in 1975, tensions between the two geographical halves escalated into a convoluted civil war that involved several Chadian political groups, Libya, the United States, and France. The conflict was to last through the 1980s. Goukouni viewed the dictatorial Tombalbaye regime as an instrument of continued French hegemony in Chad.

Goukouni was installed as interim Chadian head of state on 23 March 1979. He was acclaimed President of the Transitional Government of National Unity (GUNT), which sought reconciliation between warring factions, on 10 November 1979. Goukouni, a Cold War neutralist who supported Libya, was Head of State; Wadel Abdelkader Kamougué (a southern moderate) was Vice President; Hissène Habré (a pro-West northerner) was Minister of Defence; and Acyl Ahmat (a strongly pro-Libyan Arab) was Minister of Foreign Affairs.

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