Ngarta Tombalbaye
Tombalbaye, N’garta
(until 1973, François Tombalbaye). Born June 15,1918, in the village of Bessada, Central Shari Province; died Apr. 13,1975, in Ndjamena. State figure of the Republic of Chad.
Tombalbaye studied to be a teacher. He helped establish the Chadian Progressive Party (CPP) in 1947 and the country’s first trade union in 1952. From 1959 to 1960 he served as prime minister of the provisional government of the Republic of Chad and was a member of the Communauté Française. Tombalbaye became president of the independent Republic of Chad in 1960. From 1960 to 1962 he served as chairman and from 1963 to 1973 as general secretary of the CPP. In 1973 he became general secretary of the party’s National Movement for Cultural and Social Revolution. Tombalbaye was killed as the result of a coup d’etat.