March 27, 1942 - Hissène Habré

Hissène Habré (Arabic: حسين حبري Ḥusaīn Ḥabrī, Chadian Arabic: pronounced [hiˈsɛn ˈhabre]; French pronunciation: [isɛn abʁe]; 13 August 1942 – 24 August 2021), also spelled Hissen Habré, was a Chadian politician and convicted war criminal who served as the fifth president of Chad from 1982 until he was deposed in 1990.

A member of the Toubou ethnic group from northern Chad, Habré joined FROLINAT rebels in the first Chadian Civil War against the southern-dominated Chadian government. Due to a rift with fellow rebel commander Goukouni Oueddei, Habré and his Armed Forces of the North rebel army briefly defected to Felix Malloum's government against Oueddei before turning against Malloum, who resigned in 1979. Habré was then given the position of Minister of Defense under Chad's new transitional coalition government, with Oueddei as President. Their alliance quickly collapsed, and Habré's forces overthrew Oueddei in 1982.

Having become the country's new president, Habré created the National Union for Independence and Revolution (UNIR) as the country's sole legal party in 1984. His dictatorship was notorious for widespread human rights abuses by his secret police, the Documentation and Security Directorate (DDS). He was brought to power with the support of France and the United States, who provided training, arms, and financing throughout his rule due to his opposition to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

Content sourced from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hissène Habré under CC BY-SA 4.0.