Insurgency in Northern Chad
130-533: The Military Command Council for the Salvation of the Republic ( French : Conseil de commandement militaire pour le salut de la République ; abbreviated CCMSR ) is a Chadian militant rebel group that seeks to overthrow the government of Chad . Founded in 2016, it currently operates in the border regions of northern Chad , southern Libya, eastern Niger , and western Sudan . The CCMSR has become involved in
260-572: A de jure or de facto official, administrative, or cultural language. Most of these countries are members of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), the community of 54 member states which share the official use or teaching of French. It is spoken as a first language (in descending order of the number of speakers) in France; Canada (especially in the provinces of Quebec, Ontario, and New Brunswick); Belgium ( Wallonia and
390-745: A colony of France , into a family of shepherds . He was a member of the Anakaza branch of the Daza Gourane ethnic group, which is itself a branch of the Toubou ethnic group. After primary schooling, he obtained a post in the French colonial administration, where he impressed his superiors and gained a scholarship to study in France at the Institute of Higher International Studies in Paris. He completed
520-744: A French official to teachers in the department of Finistère , in western Brittany, included the following: "And remember, Gents: you were given your position in order to kill the Breton language". The prefect of Basses-Pyrénées in the French Basque Country wrote in 1846: "Our schools in the Basque Country are particularly meant to replace the Basque language with French..." Students were taught that their ancestral languages were inferior and they should be ashamed of them; this process
650-571: A bulwark against the Gaddafi government in neighboring Libya . Under President Ronald Reagan , the United States gave covert CIA paramilitary support to help Habré take power and remained one of Habré's strongest allies throughout his rule, providing his regime with massive amounts of military aid. The United States also used a clandestine base in Chad to train captured Libyan soldiers whom it
780-431: A comprehensive academic study entitled "The World's 10 most influential languages". In the article, Weber ranked French as, after English, the second-most influential language of the world, ahead of Spanish. His criteria were the numbers of native speakers, the number of secondary speakers (especially high for French among fellow world languages), the number of countries using the language and their respective populations,
910-555: A foreign language. Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050. French is the fastest growing language on the continent (in terms of either official or foreign languages). French is increasingly being spoken as a native language in Francophone Africa, especially in regions like Ivory Coast , Cameroon , Gabon, Madagascar , and
1040-571: A group under his command attacked the town of Bardaï in Tibesti , on 21 April 1974, and took three Europeans hostage, with the intention of ransoming them for money and arms. The captives were a German physician, Christoph Staewen (whose wife Elfriede was killed in the attack), and two French citizens, Françoise Claustre , an archeologist, and Marc Combe , a development worker. Staewen was released on 11 June 1974 after significant payments by West German officials. Combe escaped in 1975, but despite
1170-425: A larger battle with security forces. Both sides claimed to have inflicted heavy losses on their opponents before the rebels retreated back into Libya. When Idriss Déby was killed in combat during a FACT-led offensive , his son Mahamat Déby Itno took power. The CCMSR consequently declared its commitment to overthrow Déby Itno's Transitional Military Council (TMC), and supported FACT in its offensive. At this point,
1300-646: A matter of weeks. In December 1980 Habré was driven into exile in Sudan . In 1982 he resumed his fight against the Chadian government. FAN won control of N'Djamena in June and appointed Habré as head of state. Habré seized power in Chad and ruled from 1982 until he was deposed in 1990 by Idriss Déby. Habré's one-party régime was characterized by widespread human rights abuses and atrocities. He denied killing and torturing tens of thousands of his opponents, although in 2012
1430-599: A period of prosperity and prominence among European nations. Richelieu established the Académie française to protect the French language. By the early 1800s, Parisian French had become the primary language of the aristocracy in France. Near the beginning of the 19th century, the French government began to pursue policies with the end goal of eradicating the many minorities and regional languages ( patois ) spoken in France. This began in 1794 with Henri Grégoire 's "Report on
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#17327759507731560-494: A relic of the old nominal case system of Latin longer than most other Romance languages (with the notable exception of Romanian which still currently maintains a case distinction), differentiating between an oblique case and a nominative case. The phonology was characterized by heavy syllabic stress, which led to the emergence of various complicated diphthongs such as -eau which would later be leveled to monophthongs. The earliest evidence of what became Old French can be seen in
1690-683: A result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 16th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa, and Asia. French has a long history as an international language of literature and scientific standards and is a primary or second language of many international organisations including the United Nations , the European Union, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization ,
1820-401: A retaliatory attack, but Niger nevertheless extradited them to Chad. Despite its previous threat, CCMSR refrained from attacking Niger in retaliation. Bulmay, Adam, and Youssouf were subsequently put on trial in Chad, charged with the capital offense of terrorism, and transferred to the desert prison of Koro Toro . CCMSR appointed Mahamat Tahir Acheick as replacement secretary-general who in turn
1950-638: A third-party country to stand trial for human rights abuses. In 2007, Senegal set up its own special war-crimes court to try Habré under pressure from the African Union. On 8 April 2008, the National Assembly of Senegal voted to amend the nation's constitution to clear the way for Habré to be prosecuted in Senegal; Ibrahima Gueye was appointed trial coordinator in May 2008. A joint session of
2080-660: A university degree in political science in Paris, and returned to Chad in 1971. He also obtained several other degrees and earned his Doctorate from the Institute. After a further brief period of government service as a deputy prefect, he visited Tripoli and joined the National Liberation Front of Chad (FROLINAT) where he became a commander in the Second Liberation Army of FROLINAT along with Goukouni Oueddei . After Abba Siddick assumed
2210-547: A variant of Canadian French , is spoken in parts of New England . Missouri French was historically spoken in Missouri and Illinois (formerly known as Upper Louisiana ), but is nearly extinct today. French also survived in isolated pockets along the Gulf Coast of what was previously French Lower Louisiana , such as Mon Louis Island , Alabama and DeLisle, Mississippi (the latter only being discovered by linguists in
2340-457: A working language along with English and German ; in some institutions, French is the sole working language (e.g. at the Court of Justice of the European Union ). French is also the 16th most natively spoken language in the world, the sixth most spoken language by total number of speakers , and is among the top five most studied languages worldwide, with about 120 million learners as of 2017. As
2470-437: Is 95%, and in the French collectivity of Wallis and Futuna , it is 84%. In French Polynesia and to a lesser extent Wallis and Futuna, where oral and written knowledge of the French language has become almost universal (95% and 84% respectively), French increasingly tends to displace the native Polynesian languages as the language most spoken at home. In French Polynesia, the percentage of the population who reported that French
2600-472: Is a widespread second language among the Lebanese people , and is taught in many schools along with Arabic and English. French is used on Lebanese pound banknotes, on road signs, on Lebanese license plates , and on official buildings (alongside Arabic). Today, French and English are secondary languages of Lebanon , with about 40% of the population being Francophone and 40% Anglophone. The use of English
2730-489: Is also a working language in nonprofit organisations such as the Red Cross (alongside English, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic and Russian), Amnesty International (alongside 32 other languages of which English is the most used, followed by Spanish, Portuguese, German, and Italian), Médecins sans Frontières (used alongside English, Spanish, Portuguese and Arabic), and Médecins du Monde (used alongside English). Given
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#17327759507732860-619: Is an option offered to the State. Senegal was found to have failed international obligations by 1.) failing to make immediately a preliminary inquiry into the fact relating to the alleged crimes; and 2.) failing to submit the case to its competent authorities for prosecution (obligations according to UN Convention on Torture and Other Cruel, inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (1984) that Senegal had bound itself to). The ICJ rejected Senegal Defenses of insufficient funds and opposition by domestic law, instead unanimously ordering Senegal to submit
2990-652: Is enacted only in New Brunswick, where about one third of the population is Francophone. French is also an official language of all of the territories ( Northwest Territories , Nunavut , and Yukon ). Out of the three, Yukon has the most French speakers, making up just under 4% of the population. Furthermore, while French is not an official language in Ontario , the French Language Services Act ensures that provincial services are available in
3120-563: Is growing in the business and media environment. Out of about 900,000 students, about 500,000 are enrolled in Francophone schools, public or private, in which the teaching of mathematics and scientific subjects is provided in French. Actual usage of French varies depending on the region and social status. One-third of high school students educated in French go on to pursue higher education in English-speaking institutions. English
3250-404: Is known as Old French. The period of Old French spanned between the 8th and 14th centuries. Old French shared many characteristics with Latin. For example, Old French made use of different possible word orders just as Latin did because it had a case system that retained the difference between nominative subjects and oblique non-subjects . The period is marked by a heavy superstrate influence from
3380-613: Is limited to events that took place after that date. In December 2012, the Parliament of Senegal passed a law allowing for the creation of an international tribunal in Senegal to try Habre. The judges of the tribunal would be appointed by the African Union , and come from elsewhere in Africa. On 30 June 2013, Habré was arrested in Senegal by the Senegalese police. Chadian President Idriss Déby said of his arrest that it
3510-469: Is often considered to be a useful skill by business owners in the United Kingdom; a 2014 study found that 50% of British managers considered French to be a valuable asset for their business, thus ranking French as the most sought-after foreign language there, ahead of German (49%) and Spanish (44%). MIT economist Albert Saiz calculated a 2.3% premium for those who have French as a foreign language in
3640-828: Is one of the official languages of such major international and regional courts, tribunals, and dispute-settlement bodies as the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights , the Caribbean Court of Justice , the Court of Justice for the Economic Community of West African States , the Inter-American Court of Human Rights , the International Court of Justice , the International Criminal Tribunal for
3770-639: Is taught in universities around the world, and is one of the world's most influential languages because of its wide use in the worlds of journalism, jurisprudence , education, and diplomacy. In diplomacy, French is one of the six official languages of the United Nations (and one of the UN Secretariat 's only two working languages ), one of twenty official and three procedural languages of the European Union , an official language of NATO ,
3900-553: Is the language of business and communication, with French being an element of social distinction, chosen for its emotional value. French is an official language of the Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu , where 31% of the population was estimated to speak it in 2023. In the French special collectivity of New Caledonia , 97% of the population can speak, read and write French while in French Polynesia this figure
4030-483: Is the native language of about 23% of the Swiss population, and is spoken by 50% of the population. Along with Luxembourgish and German, French is one of the three official languages of Luxembourg , where it is generally the preferred language of business as well as of the different public administrations. It is also the official language of Monaco . At a regional level, French is acknowledged as an official language in
Military Command Council for the Salvation of the Republic - Misplaced Pages Continue
4160-492: Is the second-most spoken language (after English) in the states of Maine and New Hampshire . In Louisiana , it is tied with Spanish for second-most spoken if Louisiana French and all creoles such as Haitian are included. French is the third most spoken language (after English and Spanish) in the states of Connecticut , Rhode Island , and New Hampshire . Louisiana is home to many distinct French dialects, collectively known as Louisiana French . New England French , essentially
4290-424: Is the sole official language in the province of Quebec , where some 80% of the population speak it as a native language and 95% are capable of conducting a conversation in it. Quebec is also home to the city of Montreal , which is the world's fourth-largest French-speaking city, by number of first language speakers. New Brunswick and Manitoba are the only officially bilingual provinces, though full bilingualism
4420-559: Is through war. According to Bulmay, the Chadian President had a "double choice, the grave or the prison". Furthermore, the CCMSR has voiced its support for the interests of marginalized peoples and areas in northern and central Chad. Islam also plays a part in the ideology of the CCMSR, and is used by the group to rally local support, form alliances in southern Libya, and sway public opinion against Déby and his inner circle, whom
4550-764: The Aosta Valley region of Italy where it is the first language of approximately 50% of the population, while French dialects remain spoken by minorities on the Channel Islands . It is also spoken in Andorra and is the main language after Catalan in El Pas de la Casa . The language is taught as the primary second language in the German state of Saarland , with French being taught from pre-school and over 43% of citizens being able to speak French. The majority of
4680-522: The Aozou Strip . The United States and France responded by aiding Chad in an attempt to contain Libya's regional ambitions under Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi . In 1980, the unity government signed a treaty of friendship and cooperation with Libya. The treaty allowed the Chadian government to call on Libya for assistance if Chad's independence or internal security was threatened. The Libyan army
4810-546: The Brussels-Capital Region ); western Switzerland (specifically the cantons forming the Romandy region); parts of Luxembourg; parts of the United States (the states of Louisiana, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont); Monaco; the Aosta Valley region of Italy; and various communities elsewhere. French is estimated to have about 310 million speakers, of which about 80 million are native speakers. According to
4940-609: The Democratic Republic of Congo . There is not a single African French , but multiple forms that diverged through contact with various indigenous African languages . Sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid population growth. It is also where the language has evolved the most in recent years. Some vernacular forms of French in Africa can be difficult to understand for French speakers from other countries, but written forms of
5070-517: The Democratic Republic of the Congo . In some North African countries, though not having official status, it is also a first language among some upper classes of the population alongside indigenous languages, but only a second one among the general population. In 2015, approximately 40% of the Francophone population (including L2 and partial speakers) lived in Europe, 36% in sub-Saharan Africa and
5200-564: The European Parliament demanded that Senegal turn over Habré to Belgium to be tried. Senegal did not comply, and it at first refused extradition demands from the African Union which arose after Belgium asked to try Habré. The Chadian Association for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights expressed its approval of the decision. If he had been turned over, he would have become the first former dictator to be extradited by
5330-533: The European Union , French was the dominant language within all institutions until the 1990s. After several enlargements of the EU (1995, 2004), French significantly lost ground in favour of English, which is more widely spoken and taught in most EU countries. French currently remains one of the three working languages, or "procedural languages", of the EU, along with English and German. It is the second-most widely used language within EU institutions after English, but remains
Military Command Council for the Salvation of the Republic - Misplaced Pages Continue
5460-557: The Extraordinary African Chambers found Habré guilty of rape, sexual slavery, and ordering the killing of 40,000 people during his tenure as Chadian president and sentenced him to life in prison in the Prison du Cap Manuel in Senegal. The verdict marked the first time an African Union -backed court convicted a former ruler for human-rights abuses and the first time that the courts of one country have prosecuted
5590-559: The Francien dialect is one that not only continued but also thrived during the Middle French period (14th–17th centuries). Modern French grew out of this Francien dialect. Grammatically, during the period of Middle French, noun declensions were lost and there began to be standardized rules. Robert Estienne published the first Latin-French dictionary, which included information about phonetics, etymology, and grammar. Politically,
5720-399: The French colonial empire , there are numerous French-based creole languages , most notably Haitian Creole . A French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French is an official language in 27 countries , as well as one of the most geographically widespread languages in the world, with about 50 countries and territories having it as
5850-877: The International Olympic Committee , the Council of Europe , the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development , Organization of American States (alongside Spanish, Portuguese and English), the Eurovision Song Contest , one of eighteen official languages of the European Space Agency , World Trade Organization and the least used of the three official languages in the North American Free Trade Agreement countries. It
5980-600: The Khalifa Haftar -loyal Libyan National Army (LNA). Several Chadian dissident groups unified under the leadership of long-time insurgent commander Mahamat Mahdi Ali in March 2016, forming the " Front for Change and Concord in Chad " (FACT) and allying themselves with pro-GNA forces in Libya. FACT's unity collapsed almost immediately, however, as violent disputes erupted and part of the group split off in March. This splinter faction consisted of Kreda clansmen and adopted
6110-626: The Oaths of Strasbourg and the Sequence of Saint Eulalia , while Old French literature began to be produced in the eleventh century, with major early works often focusing on the lives of saints (such as the Vie de Saint Alexis ), or wars and royal courts, notably including the Chanson de Roland , epic cycles focused on King Arthur and his court , as well as a cycle focused on William of Orange . It
6240-584: The Second Libyan Civil War , and took control of the Kouri Bougoudi area in northern Chad in 2018. After taking power in 1990, Chadian President Idriss Déby has been challenged by numerous armed Chadian opposition groups. Although numerous and relatively powerful, the rebel factions were never able to fully unite to topple Déby who was thus able to crush them repeatedly in the course of several civil wars and insurgencies. Over time,
6370-775: The World Trade Organization , the International Olympic Committee , the General Conference on Weights and Measures , and the International Committee of the Red Cross . French is a Romance language (meaning that it is descended primarily from Vulgar Latin ) that evolved out of the Gallo-Romance dialects spoken in northern France. The language's early forms include Old French and Middle French . Due to Roman rule, Latin
6500-446: The military of Chad grew increasingly powerful, while the Chadian rebels lost their backers and sources of funding. As a result, most of them relocated from Chad to Libya and Sudan in 2009, where they worked as mercenaries to remain active and make a living. About 11,000 Chadian mercenaries operated in Libya by August 2017, fighting for numerous Libyan parties such as the Presidential Council / Government of National Accord (GNA) and
6630-493: The 1980s, the United States was pivotal in bringing Hissène Habré to power, seeing him as a stalwart defense against expansion by Libya's Muammar Qaddafi, and therefore provided critical military support to his insurgency and then to his government, even as it committed widespread and systematic human rights violations—violations of which, as this report shows, many in the US government were aware. — Human Rights Watch The United States and France supported Habré, seeing him as
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#17327759507736760-455: The 1990s) but these varieties are severely endangered or presumed extinct. French is one of two official languages in Haiti alongside Haitian Creole . It is the principal language of education, administration, business, and public signage and is spoken by all educated Haitians. It is also used for ceremonial events such as weddings, graduations, and church masses. The vast majority of the population speaks Haitian Creole as their first language;
6890-474: The 20th century, when it was replaced by English as the United States became the dominant global power following the Second World War . Stanley Meisler of the Los Angeles Times said that the fact that the Treaty of Versailles was written in English as well as French was the "first diplomatic blow" against the language. During the Grand Siècle (17th century), France, under the rule of powerful leaders such as Cardinal Richelieu and Louis XIV , enjoyed
7020-432: The CCMSR and illegal miners. From then on, the Chadian Air Force launched several bombing raids in the region, targeting the Kouri Bougoudi mining camp and camel herds, killing several civilians and depriving locals of their livelihood. Meanwhile, the CCMSR continued its attacks against government positions, such as at Tarbou in Tibesti Region (21 September), and Miski in Borkou Region (24 October). Some locals criticised
7150-521: The CCMSR came under increasing pressure by the LNA and its allies, as the latter had launched another offensive to evict the GNA and Chadian rebels from southern Libya. By August 2019, the CCMSR had lost control of Kouri Bougoudi, but continued to launch cross-border raids into the Tibesti Mountains. The Chadian military responded with a "crackdown" in the area and declared a regional state of emergency for five months. On 19 February 2020, CCMSR troops launched another raid against Kouri Bougoudi, resulting in
7280-497: The CCMSR has accused of being "bad Muslims". Despite this, the CCMSR is not an overtly religious organization. Most notably, its former head Bulmay was known for being not devout. The CCMSR claims to have 4,500 fighters under its command, most of them members of the Toubou people 's Daza subgroup, as well as smaller numbers of Arabs , Maba , and Zaghawa . It is the largest group in the "National Front for Democracy and Justice in Chad" rebel coalition. There have been allegations that
7410-433: The CCMSR is financed by Qatar , as it is allied to Libyan militias which are supported by Qatar. French language French ( français [fʁɑ̃sɛ] or langue française [lɑ̃ɡ fʁɑ̃sɛːz] ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family . Like all other Romance languages, it descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire . French evolved from Gallo-Romance ,
7540-421: The CCMSR joined a Chadian rebel coalition, the "National Front for Democracy and Justice in Chad" which was founded in July 2018. On 11 August 2018, CCMSR launched a major attack on the military outpost at Kouri Bougoudi in the Tibesti Mountains , later claiming to have killed 73 and captured 45 soldiers while suffering just 11 casualties (4 dead, 7 wounded). The Chadian government initially attempted to deny that
7670-400: The CCMSR of exploiting and worsening ethnic tensions in the Tibesti Mountains. At the same time, tensions increased in southern Libya, as native civilians and armed forces were increasingly opposed to the presence of Chadian militants, resulting in numerous clashes. In late October 2018, Haftar's LNA launched an offensive in the Murzuq basin to evict rival Libyan and Chadian groups, including
7800-410: The CCMSR was headed by Rachid Mahamat Tahir. CCMSR portrays itself as Chadian nationalist movement that is opposed to the authoritarian regime of Idriss Déby which it regards as uncaring and oppressive toward the Chadian people. In one statement, Mahamat Hassani Bulmay described Déby's government as "clan despotism in its most pernicious and most abject form", and stated that the only way to end his rule
7930-416: The CCMSR, from the region. It has been speculated that the Chadian militants who attacked the LNA base at Traghan on 27 December 2018, were connected to the CCMSR. On 12 January 2019, the CCMSR clashed with the LNA-allied Sudanese SLM/A-Minnawi at Gatroun in southern Libya, and with the pro-Déby Sudanese Justice and Equality Movement at the gold mines of Kouri Bougoudi in northern Chad. By February 2019,
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#17327759507738060-510: The Canadian capital, is also effectively bilingual, as it has a large population of federal government workers, who are required to offer services in both French and English, and is just across the river from the Quebecois city of Gatineau . According to the United States Census Bureau (2011), French is the fourth most spoken language in the United States after English, Spanish, and Chinese, when all forms of French are considered together and all dialects of Chinese are similarly combined. French
8190-614: The Caribbean that are collectively referred to as the French West Indies , namely Guadeloupe , Saint Barthélemy , Saint Martin , and Martinique . French is the official language of both French Guiana on the South American continent, and of Saint Pierre and Miquelon , an archipelago off the coast of Newfoundland in North America. French was the official language of the colony of French Indochina , comprising modern-day Vietnam , Laos , and Cambodia . It continues to be an administrative language in Laos and Cambodia, although its influence has waned in recent decades. In colonial Vietnam,
8320-434: The Chadian government. It also started to clash with pro-Haftar forces, and one of its bases near Sabha was bombed by the Haftar-aligned Libyan Air Force in April 2016. The CCMSR was the first armed Chadian opposition group to return to its home country since 2010, namely when it launched a raid and killed 12 Chadian soldiers in April 2017. It subsequently won some attention in the region, and spread Bulmay's writings among
8450-446: The Chadian population. His messages included support for the interests of the Chadian region of Bahr el Gazel as well as strong criticism of local politicians who worked with Déby's government. Bulmay's ideas found some appeal among Bahr el Gazel's youth. A major clash between the CCMSR and the Chadian military took place on 18 August 2017, as a CSSMR column ran by chance into a Chadian Special Forces patrol near Tekro in Ennedi , routing
8580-491: The DDS' meticulous archives describe training programs by U.S. instructors for DDS agents and officials, including a course in the United States that was attended by some of the DDS' most feared torturers. According to the Chadian Truth Commission , the United States also provided the DDS with monthly infusions of monetary aid and financed a regional network of intelligence networks code-named "Mosaic" that Chad used to pursue suspected opponents of Habré's regime even after they fled
8710-408: The Empire, this local elite had been slowly abandoning Gaulish entirely, but the rural and lower class populations remained Gaulish speakers who could sometimes also speak Latin or Greek. The final language shift from Gaulish to Vulgar Latin among rural and lower class populations occurred later, when both they and the incoming Frankish ruler/military class adopted the Gallo-Roman Vulgar Latin speech of
8840-416: The Germanic Frankish language , which non-exhaustively included the use in upper-class speech and higher registers of V2 word order , a large percentage of the vocabulary (now at around 15% of modern French vocabulary ) including the impersonal singular pronoun on (a calque of Germanic man ), and the name of the language itself. Up until its later stages, Old French , alongside Old Occitan , maintained
8970-410: The Indian Ocean, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas, and 1% in Asia and Oceania. French is the second most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union . Of Europeans who speak other languages natively, approximately one-fifth are able to speak French as a second language. French is the second most taught foreign language in the EU. All institutions of the EU use French as
9100-441: The Latin spoken in Gaul , and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues d'oïl —languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, which French ( Francien ) largely supplanted. French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the ( Germanic ) Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to
9230-457: The National Assembly and the Senate voted in July 2008 to approve a bill empowering Senegalese courts to try people for crimes committed in other countries and for crimes that were committed more than ten years beforehand; this made it constitutionally possible to try Habré. Senegalese Minister of Justice Madicke Niang appointed four investigative judges on this occasion. A 2007 movie by director Klaartje Quirijns , The Dictator Hunter , tells
9360-451: The OIF, approximately 321 million people worldwide are "able to speak the language" as of 2022, without specifying the criteria for this estimation or whom it encompasses. In Francophone Africa, it is spoken mainly as a second language. However it has also become a native language in a number of urban areas, especially in regions like Ivory Coast , Cameroon , Gabon, Madagascar , and
9490-635: The United Nations' International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered Senegal to put him on trial or extradite him to face justice overseas. Following his rise to power Habré created a secret police force known as the Documentation and Security Directorate (DDS), under which his opponents were tortured and executed. Some methods of torture commonly used by the DDS included burning the body of the detainee with incandescent objects, spraying gas into their eyes, ears and nose, forced swallowing of water, and forcing
9620-452: The accusation on which the trial was based was previously unknown and Habré had not received any notification of the trial. 14 victims filed new complaints with a Senegalese prosecutor on 16 September, accusing Habré of crimes against humanity and torture. The Senegalese government added an amendment in 2008, which would allow Habré to be tried in court. Senegal later changed their position, however, requesting 27 million euros in funding from
9750-415: The attack had taken place, and then downplayed its significance. While the CCMSR offered to release its prisoners in return for the release of Bulmay, Adam, and Youssouf, the Chadian government refused to negotiate with "savage mercenaries, bandits [and] thugs", and instead ordered local miners to abandon their camp at Kouri Bougoudi. The military subsequently retreated from the area on 22 August, leaving it to
9880-468: The case to authorities for prosecution or extradite him without delay. In November 2010, the court of justice of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) ruled that Senegal could not hold trial in the matter through local court only, and asked for the creation of a special tribunal on the matter of Habré's prosecution. In April 2011, after initial reticence, Senegal agreed to
10010-547: The convictions for which were upheld. On 7 April 2020, a judge in Senegal granted Habre two months' leave from prison, as the jail is being used to hold new detainees in COVID-19 quarantine . After finishing his home freedom he returned to prison on 7 June. Habré died in Senegal on 24 August 2021, a week after his 79th birthday, after being hospitalized in Dakar's main hospital with COVID-19 . He had fallen ill while in jail
10140-505: The country near French-speaking Quebec, however, it is the foreign language more commonly taught. Vowel phonemes in French Hiss%C3%A8ne Habr%C3%A9 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 ,
10270-483: The country. In the summer of 1983, when Libya invaded northern Chad and threatened to topple Habré, France sent paratroops with air support, while the Reagan administration provided two AWACS electronic surveillance planes to coordinate air cover. By 1987 Gaddafi's forces had retreated. "Habré was a remarkably able man with a brilliant sense of how to play the outside world," a former senior U.S. official said. "He
10400-546: The creation of an ad hoc tribunal in collaboration with the African Union, the Chadian state and with international funding. Senegal changed their position again however, walking out during discussions on establishing the court on 30 May 2011 without explanation. The African union commission on Habré, in preparation for their next summit on 30 June, published a report which urged pressing Senegal to extradite Habré to Belgium. On 8 July 2011, Senegal officials announced that Habré would be extradited to Chad on 11 July, but this
10530-519: The demographic prospects of the French-speaking nations of Africa, researcher Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry wrote in 2014 that French "could be the language of the future". However, some African countries such as Algeria intermittently attempted to eradicate the use of French, and as of 2024 it was removed as an official language in Mali and Burkina Faso . Significant as a judicial language, French
10660-448: The economic power of the countries using the language, the number of major areas in which the language is used, and the linguistic prestige associated with the mastery of the language (Weber highlighted that French in particular enjoys considerable linguistic prestige). In a 2008 reassessment of his article, Weber concluded that his findings were still correct since "the situation among the top ten remains unchanged." Knowledge of French
10790-594: The elites primarily spoke French, while many servants who worked in French households spoke a French pidgin known as " Tây Bồi " (now extinct). After French rule ended, South Vietnam continued to use French in administration, education, and trade. However, since the Fall of Saigon and the opening of a unified Vietnam's economy, French has gradually been effectively displaced as the first foreign language of choice by English in Vietnam. Nevertheless, it continues to be taught as
10920-516: The first government authority to adopt Modern French as official was the Aosta Valley in 1536, while the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts (1539) named French the language of law in the Kingdom of France . During the 17th century, French replaced Latin as the most important language of diplomacy and international relations ( lingua franca ). It retained this role until approximately the middle of
11050-915: The former Yugoslavia , International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda , the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea the International Criminal Court and the World Trade Organization Appellate Body . It is the sole internal working language of the Court of Justice of the European Union , and makes with English the European Court of Human Rights 's two working languages. In 1997, George Weber published, in Language Today ,
11180-401: The former ruler of another country for crimes against humanity. In May 2017, Judge Ougadeye Wafi upheld Habre's life sentence and all convictions against him, except rape. The court emphasized this was a procedural matter, as the facts the victim offered during her testimony came too late in the proceedings to be included within charges of mass sexual violence committed by his security agents,
11310-829: The gender of the corresponding word in Gaulish. The estimated number of French words that can be attributed to Gaulish is placed at 154 by the Petit Robert , which is often viewed as representing standardized French, while if non-standard dialects are included, the number increases to 240. Known Gaulish loans are skewed toward certain semantic fields, such as plant life ( chêne , bille , etc.), animals ( mouton , cheval , etc.), nature ( boue , etc.), domestic activities (ex. berceau ), farming and rural units of measure ( arpent , lieue , borne , boisseau ), weapons, and products traded regionally rather than further afield. This semantic distribution has been attributed to peasants being
11440-422: The international community before going through with the trial. This prompted Belgium to pressure the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to force Senegal to either extradite Habré to Belgium or to proceed with the trial. The ICJ declined to force extradition, finding that prosecution is an international obligation the violation of which is a wrongful act engaging the responsibility of the State, while extradition
11570-556: The intervention of the French Government, Claustre (whose husband was a senior French government official) was not released until 1 February 1977. Habré split with Oueddei, partly over this hostage-taking incident (which became known as the "Claustre affair" in France). In August 1978 Habré was given the posts of Prime Minister of Chad and Vice President of Chad as part of an alliance with Gen. Félix Malloum . However,
11700-454: The language are very closely related to those of the rest of the French-speaking world. French is the second most commonly spoken language in Canada and one of two federal official languages alongside English. As of the 2021 Canadian census , it was the native language of 7.7 million people (21% of the population) and the second language of 2.9 million (8% of the population). French
11830-479: The language, although it has now given way to Tamil and English. A former French mandate , Lebanon designates Arabic as the sole official language, while a special law regulates cases when French can be publicly used. Article 11 of Lebanon's Constitution states that "Arabic is the official national language. A law determines the cases in which the French language is to be used". The French language in Lebanon
11960-612: The language. The Act applies to areas of the province where there are significant Francophone communities, namely Eastern Ontario and Northern Ontario . Elsewhere, sizable French-speaking minorities are found in southern Manitoba, Nova Scotia , Prince Edward Island and the Port au Port Peninsula in Newfoundland and Labrador, where the unique Newfoundland French dialect was historically spoken. Smaller pockets of French speakers exist in all other provinces. The Ontarian city of Ottawa ,
12090-479: The last to hold onto Gaulish. The beginning of French in Gaul was greatly influenced by Germanic invasions into the country. These invasions had the greatest impact on the northern part of the country and on the language there. A language divide began to grow across the country. The population in the north spoke langue d'oïl while the population in the south spoke langue d'oc . Langue d'oïl grew into what
12220-673: The leadership of FROLINAT, the Second Liberation Army, first under Oueddei's command and then under Habré's, split from FROLINAT and became the Command Council of the Armed Forces of the North (CCFAN). In 1976 Oueddei and Habré quarreled and Habré split his newly named Armed Forces of the North ( Forces Armées du Nord or FAN) from Goukouni's followers who adopted the name of People's Armed Forces ( Forces Armées Populaires or FAP). Habré first came to international attention when
12350-653: The most serious violations of human rights to be tried in national as well as international courts, without any direct connection to the country of the alleged perpetrator, the victims or where the crimes took place. Despite the repeal of the legislation, investigations against Habré went ahead and in September 2005 he was indicted for crimes against humanity, torture, war crimes, and other human rights violations. Senegal, where Habré had been in exile for 17 years, had Habré under nominal house arrest in Dakar . On 17 March 2006,
12480-523: The mouths of detainees around the exhaust pipes of running automobiles. Habré's government also periodically engaged in ethnic cleansing against groups such as the Sara , Hadjerai and the Zaghawa , killing and arresting group members en masse when it was perceived that their leaders posed a threat to the regime. Habré fled, with $ 11 million of public money, to Senegal after being overthrown in 1990. He
12610-404: The name "Military Command Council for the Salvation of the Republic" (CCMSR), electing former UFDD spokesman Mahamat Hassani Bulmay its secretary-general. Becoming active in the border regions of northern Chad, southern Libya, eastern Niger , and western Sudan, CCMSR allied itself with the pro-GNA Benghazi Defense Brigades , and started to build up its strength in Libya for a rebellion against
12740-420: The necessity and means to annihilate the patois and to universalize the use of the French language". When public education was made compulsory , only French was taught and the use of any other ( patois ) language was punished. The goals of the public school system were made especially clear to the French-speaking teachers sent to teach students in regions such as Occitania and Brittany . Instructions given by
12870-534: The other main foreign language in the Vietnamese educational system and is regarded as a cultural language. All three countries are full members of La Francophonie (OIF). French was the official language of French India , consisting of the geographically separate enclaves referred to as Puducherry . It continued to be an official language of the territory even after its cession to India in 1956 until 1965. A small number of older locals still retain knowledge of
13000-466: The power-sharing alliance did not last long. In February 1979 Habré's forces and the national army under Malloum fought in N'Djamena . The fighting effectively left Chad without a national government. Several attempts were made by other nations to resolve the crisis, resulting in a new national government in November 1979 in which Habré was appointed Minister of Defense. However, fighting resumed within
13130-471: The preferred language of certain institutions or administrations such as the Court of Justice of the European Union , where it is the sole internal working language, or the Directorate-General for Agriculture . Since 2016, Brexit has rekindled discussions on whether or not French should again hold greater role within the institutions of the European Union. A leading world language , French
13260-437: The reasons for France's abandonment of Habré include the adoption of a policy of non-interference in intra-Chadian conflicts, dissatisfaction with Habré's unwillingness to move towards multiparty democracy, and favoritism by Habré towards U.S. rather than French companies with regard to oil development. Habré fled to Cameroon , and the rebels entered N'Djamena on 2 December 1990; Habré subsequently went into exile in Senegal. In
13390-471: The rest largely speak French as a first language. As a French Creole language , Haitian Creole draws the large majority of its vocabulary from French, with influences from West African languages, as well as several European languages. It is closely related to Louisiana Creole and the creole from the Lesser Antilles . French is the sole official language of all the overseas territories of France in
13520-444: The story of the activists Souleymane Guengueng and Reed Brody who led the efforts to bring Habré to trial. On 15 August 2008, a Chadian court sentenced Habré to death in absentia for war crimes and crimes against humanity in connection with allegations that he had worked with rebels inside Chad to oust Déby. François Serres, a lawyer for Habré, criticized this trial on 22 August for unfairness and secrecy. According to Serres,
13650-566: The surprised government forces after a short battle. The rebel group suffered a heavy blow in October 2017, when the Nigerien government arrested three of its top leaders in Agadez , namely secretary-general Bulmay, spokesman Ahmat Yacoub Adam, and external affairs secretary Dr. Abderahman Issa Youssouf. The group attempted to force the Nigerien government to release them by threatening to launch
13780-414: The total number of French speakers will reach approximately 500 million in 2025 and 650 million by 2050, largely due to rapid population growth in sub-Saharan Africa . OIF estimates 700 million French speakers by 2050, 80% of whom will be in Africa. In a study published in March 2014 by Forbes , the investment bank Natixis said that French could become the world's most spoken language by 2050. In
13910-404: The trial started. Waiting for the trial to open, Habré shouted: "Down with imperialists. [The trial] is a farce by rotten Senegalese politicians. African traitors. Valet of America". After that Habré was taken out of the courtroom and the trial began without him. On 21 July 2015 Habré's trial was postponed to 7 September 2015, after his lawyers refused to participate in court. On 30 May 2016,
14040-679: The two official languages—along with Dutch —of the Brussels-Capital Region , where it is spoken by the majority of the population (approx. 80%), often as their primary language. French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland, along with German, Italian, and Romansh , and is spoken in the western part of Switzerland, called Romandy , of which Geneva is the largest city. The language divisions in Switzerland do not coincide with political subdivisions, and some cantons have bilingual status: for example, cities such as Biel/Bienne and cantons such as Valais , Fribourg and Bern . French
14170-568: The urban intellectual elite. The Gaulish language likely survived into the sixth century in France despite considerable Romanization . Coexisting with Latin, Gaulish helped shape the Vulgar Latin dialects that developed into French contributing loanwords and calques (including oui , the word for "yes"), sound changes shaped by Gaulish influence, and influences in conjugation and word order. Recent computational studies suggest that early gender shifts may have been motivated by
14300-485: The use of French in official government publications, public education except in specific cases, and legal contracts; advertisements must bear a translation of foreign words. In Belgium, French is an official language at the federal level along with Dutch and German. At the regional level, French is the sole official language of Wallonia (excluding a part of the East Cantons , which are German-speaking ) and one of
14430-536: The workplace. In 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Standard Mandarin Chinese . In English-speaking Canada, the United Kingdom, and Ireland, French is the first foreign language taught and in number of pupils is far ahead of other languages. In the United States, French is the second-most commonly taught foreign language in schools and universities, although well behind Spanish. In some areas of
14560-402: The world's French-speaking population lives in Africa. According to a 2023 estimate from the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie , an estimated 167 million African people spread across 35 countries and territories can speak French as either a first or a second language . This number does not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as
14690-521: Was a Chadian politician and convicted war criminal who served as the 5th president of Chad from 1982 until he was deposed in 1990. A Muslim 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
14820-470: Was a step towards "an Africa free of all evil, an Africa stripped of all dictatorships." Senegal's court, set up with the African Union, charged him with crimes against humanity and torture. That year he was also sentenced to death in absentia for crimes against humanity by a Chadian court. The Tribunal that judged Hissène Habré in Sénégal is said to have a huge range of specificities. On 20 July 2015
14950-756: Was accused of personally participating in torture and rape. According to some leading experts, the tribunal that judges him constituted an "internationalized tribunal", even if it is the most 'national' within this category". The government of Idriss Déby established a Commission of Inquiry into the Crimes and Misappropriations Committed by Ex-President Habré, His Accomplices and/or Accessories in 1990, which reported that 40,000 people had been killed, but did not follow up on its recommendations. Between 1993 and 2003, Belgium had universal jurisdiction legislation (the Belgian War Crimes Law ) allowing
15080-805: Was also a bloodthirsty tyrant and torturer. It is fair to say we knew who and what he was and chose to turn a blind eye." Human rights groups hold Habré responsible for the killing of thousands of people, but the exact number is unknown. Killings included massacres against ethnic groups in the south (1984), against the Hadjerai (1987), and against the Zaghawa (1989). Human Rights Watch charged him with having authorized tens of thousands of political murders and physical torture . Habré had been called "the African Pinochet," in reference to former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet . Habre would personally sign death warrants and oversee torture sessions, and
15210-654: 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 . He led the country during the Libyan-Chadian conflict , culminating in victory during the Toyota War from 1986 to 1987 with French support . He was overthrown three years later in the 1990 Chadian coup d'état by Idriss Déby and fled into exile in Senegal . In May 2016, Habré
15340-819: Was during the period of the Crusades in which French became so dominant in the Mediterranean Sea that became a lingua franca ("Frankish language"), and because of increased contact with the Arabs during the Crusades who referred to them as Franj , numerous Arabic loanwords entered French, such as amiral (admiral), alcool (alcohol), coton (cotton) and sirop (syrop), as well as scientific terms such as algébre (algebra), alchimie (alchemy) and zéro (zero). Within Old French many dialects emerged but
15470-496: Was found guilty by an international tribunal in Senegal of human-rights abuses, including rape, sexual slavery , and ordering the killing of 40,000 people, and sentenced to life in prison. He was the first former head of state to be convicted for human rights abuses in the court of another nation. He died on 24 August 2021, after testing positive for COVID-19 . Habré was born in 1942 in Faya-Largeau , northern Chad, then
15600-400: Was gradually adopted by the inhabitants of Gaul. As the language was learned by the common people, it developed a distinct local character, with grammatical differences from Latin as spoken elsewhere, some of which is attested in graffiti. This local variety evolved into the Gallo-Romance tongues, which include French and its closest relatives, such as Arpitan . The evolution of Latin in Gaul
15730-596: Was known in the Occitan-speaking region as Vergonha . Spoken by 19.71% of the European Union's population, French is the third most widely spoken language in the EU, after English and German and the second-most-widely taught language after English. Under the Constitution of France , French has been the official language of the Republic since 1992, although the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts made it mandatory for legal documents in 1539. France mandates
15860-535: Was organizing into an anti-Qaddafi force. "The CIA was so deeply involved in bringing Habré to power I can't conceive they didn't know what was going on," said Donald Norland , U.S. ambassador to Chad from 1979 to 1981. "But there was no debate on the policy and virtually no discussion of the wisdom of doing what we did." Documents obtained by Human Rights Watch show that the United States provided Habré's DDS with training, intelligence, arms, and other support despite knowledge of its atrocities. Records discovered in
15990-613: Was placed under house arrest in 2005 until his arrest in 2013. He was accused of war crimes and torture during his eight years in power in Chad, where rights groups say that some 40,000 people were killed under his rule. Human Rights Watch claims that 1,200 were killed and 12,000 were tortured, and a domestic Chadian commission of inquiry claims that as many as 40,000 were killed and that more than 200,000 were subjected to torture. Human Rights Watch later dubbed Habré "Africa's Pinochet ." Libya invaded Chad in July 1980, occupying and annexing
16120-594: Was shaped by its coexistence for over half a millennium beside the native Celtic Gaulish language , which did not go extinct until the late sixth century, long after the fall of the Western Roman Empire . The population remained 90% indigenous in origin; the Romanizing class were the local native elite (not Roman settlers), whose children learned Latin in Roman schools. At the time of the collapse of
16250-492: Was soon assisting the government forces, under Goukouni, and ousted FAN from much of northern Chad, including N'Djamena on 15 December. Libyan troops withdrew in November 1981. Without their support, Goukouni's government troops were weakened and Habré capitalized on this and his FAN militia entered N'Djamena on 7 June 1982. In 1983, Libyan troops returned to Chad and remained in the country, supporting Goukouni's militia, until 1988. Despite this victory, Habré's government
16380-500: Was subsequently halted. In July 2012, the ICJ ruled that Senegal must start Habré's trial "without delay". Amnesty International called on Senegal to abide by the ICJ's ruling, calling it "a victory for victims that's long overdue". A trial by the International Criminal Court (ICC) was ruled out, because the crimes took place before the ICC was fully established in 2002, and its jurisdiction
16510-507: Was succeeded by Michelot Yogogombaye in 2018. Yogogombaye, a loyalist of former Chadian President Hissène Habré , operates from Paris . In March and May 2018, the CCMSR was repeatedly bombed by the Haftar-loyal Libyan Air Force, though these attacks had almost no effect. In contrast, one Libyan air raid in June against one of the militia's bases at Um Aranib reportedly resulted in significant losses. At some point,
16640-570: Was the language they use the most at home rose from 67% at the 2007 census to 74% at the 2017 census. In Wallis and Futuna, the percentage of the population who reported that French was the language they use the most at home rose from 10% at the 2008 census to 13% at the 2018 census. According to a demographic projection led by the Université Laval and the Réseau Démographie de l'Agence universitaire de la Francophonie ,
16770-408: 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 a one-party dictatorship ruled by his National Union for Independence and Revolution notorious for widespread human rights abuses. He
16900-448: Was weak, and strongly opposed by members of the Zaghawa ethnic group. A rebel offensive in November 1990, which was led by Idriss Déby , a Zaghawa former army commander who had participated in a plot against Habré in 1989 and subsequently fled to Sudan, defeated Habré's forces. The French chose not to assist Habré on this occasion, allowing him to be ousted; it is possible that they actively aided Déby. Explanation and speculation regarding
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