Fidèle Moungar

Fidèle Abdelkérim Moungar (born 1948) is a Chadian doctor and a veteran politician who served as prime minister of Chad in 1993. He is currently president of the left-wing opposition party Chadian Action for Unity and Socialism (ACTUS).

Moungar is an ethnic Sara, []

In 1992, two years after the rise to the presidency of Idriss Déby, he became Minister of Education in the government led by Jean Alingué Bawoyeu. [ [http://www.unhcr.org/home/RSDCOI/3ae6a9fc40.html Amnesty International Report 1994 - Chad] , UNHCR web site.] At the Sovereign National Conference (CNS), a reconciliation conference representing most Chadian factions that was first convened on January 15 1993, [cite book|author=Nolutshungu, Sam C.|title=Limits of Anarchy: Intervention and State Formation in Chad|publisher=University of Virginia Press|year=1995|pages=254 - 255|id=ISBN 0-8139-1628-3] Moungar was elected as transitional Prime Minister on April 6 1993, receiving 444 votes against the 334 received by Adoum Helbongo.Bernard Lanne, "Chad: Regime Change, Increased Insecurity, and Blockage of Further Reforms", "Political Reform in Francophone Africa" (1997), ed. Clark and Gardinier, page 278.] He succeeded Alingué as Prime Minister on April 7.Guy Arnold, [http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9115089/CHAD Chad, Year in Review: 1993] , Britannica.com.]

Moungar formed a transitional government including 16 ministers, [cite journal| first = | last = U.S. Department of State| year =1993 | month = | title =Chad | journal = Country Reports on Human Rights Practices | url =http://cpsr.org/prevsite/cpsr/privacy/privacy_international/country_reports/1993_us_state_dept_human_rights_guide/chad.txt] in which all party leaders had a post; [Citation| title=Un gouvernement "a la française"| newspaper=La Lettre du Continent| date=22-4-1993|] among these, Saleh Kebzabo became Trade and Industry Minister, Delwa Kassiré Koumakoye became Communications Minister and Wadel Abdelkader Kamougué became Civil Service and Labour Minister. In a message on Radio Tchad, Moungar asserted his cabinet's loyalty to the CNS' instructions, claiming that his ministers would be the CNS' "missionaries". [cite journal | author=Roy May & Simon Massey| title=Two Steps Forward, One Step Back: Chad's Protracted 'Transition to Democracy'| journal=Journal of Contemporary African Studies|volume=18| issue = 1| pages = 107–132| month = January | year = 2000| doi=10.1080/025890000111995]

Moungar's tenure in office was marked by confrontation with the President over the pace for adopting a multiparty political system, a confrontation that a Chadian journalist dates frome June, when during a presidential visit to France Idriss Déby noted that Moungar was highly regarded by the French government. This made Déby conclude that Moungar might transform himself in a dangerous rival for the presidency. He was also led to suspect this, together with rival opposition leaders, by Moungar's conduct and speeches, which indicated a considerable ambition, despite his previous promise that he had no political interest in remaining in politics after the transition period. This brought the downfall of the Moungar cabinet on October 28 1993, when the President's supporters presented a censure motion in transitional parliament, the Conseil Supérieur de Transition (CST). [Buijtenhuijs, Robert; "La Conférence nationale souveraine du Tchad: un essai d'histoire immédiate", 207-208] Citation|author=Pierre, Subtil Marie| title= Le gouvernement de transition a été renversé| newspaper=Le Monde| date=30-10-1993|] The CST (the country's transitional legislature charged with the task of monitoring the government's implementation of the CNS' recommendations [cite book|author=Zartman, I. William|title=Collapsed States: The Disintegration and Restoration of Legitimate Authority|publisher=Lynne Rienner Publishers|year=1995|pages=30 - 31|id=ISBN 1-5558-7560-2] ) approved the motion with 45 votes against 10, and 1 abstained, displaying what the scholar William Miles calls "a good example of their deference to the Presidency", which repeated itself when the CST readily accepted Déby's candidate for Prime Minister, the Justice Minister Delwa Kassiré Koumakoye. [cite journal | author=Miles, William F. S.| title=Tragic Tradeoffs: Democracy and Security in Chad| journal=The Journal of Modern African Studies|volume=33| issue = 1| pages = 53–65|month=March | year=1995] Moungar called his removal unconstitutional, threatening to bring the issue to court, while workers went on strike, deserting their jobs. [Citation| title= Workers stay out in Chad protest| newspaper=Boston Globe| date=30-10-1993|]

In 1996 Moungar was disqualified from participating in the first Chadian multi-party presidential election for alleged residence irregularities. [C. Daddieh & K. Mengisteab, "State Building and Democratization in Africa", page 180.]

In January 2007 Moungar strongly criticized French policy in Chad, asking for the recall of the French troops stationed in Chad. He claimed that "France has crucified Chadian democracy, systematically contributing to the faking of all elections, and, through the intervention of its troops, has caused the repression of all rebellions, in open violation of the Franco-Chadian accords." [ [http://www.afrik.com/article11082.html "Fidèle Moungar: 'La France a crucifié la démocratie au Tchad'] ", Panapress (Afrik.com), January 23, 2007 fr icon.]

On July 30 2007, Moungar returned to Chad along with a delegation of about 20 other exiled opponents of the regime to meet with Déby and discuss how to restore peace to the country; he and the rest of the delegation returned to Libreville, Gabon on the same day. [ [http://www.primature-tchad.org/index.php?2007/07/31/565-une-innovation-dans-la-demarche-de-restauration-de-la-paix-au-tchad "Une innovation dans la démarche de restauration de la paix au Tchad"] , Chadian government web site, July 31, 2007 fr icon.]

References