Includes bibliographical references (p. 319-327) and index.

Sahara, Sahel, and Sudan -- Continuities -- Crossing the Sahara -- The power of belief -- The bonds of blood -- Boundaries and frontiers -- Implacable imperialism -- Chad : an African conundrum -- France and the Republic of Chad -- The Tombalbaye government -- Seeking support outside Paris -- Revolt in the B.E.T. -- Drought and the insurgency -- Rolinat -- A nasty little war -- The Tombalbaye fights back -- The return of the French -- French conditions and Tombalbaye's response -- Opposition in France -- The French military in Chad -- The Libyan card -- The Sudan and Tombalbaye : Muslims and Christians -- The Sudan and Chad -- Sadiq al-Mahdi and Chad -- Frolinat attacks -- The Sahelian drought -- The return of Hasan al-Turabi -- Turabi and Sadiq -- Numayri and Chad -- Libya and Tombalbaye : Muslim Arabs and Christian Africans -- Qaddafi's game -- Geopolitic visions -- The Chad-Libyan boundary dispute revisited -- Cartographic and other territorial aggression -- Hissene Habre -- The Aozou strip -- Drought and man in the Aozou strip and the B.E.T. -- Security for Tombalbaye -- Frolinat in disarray -- L'affaire claustre -- The struggle for Chad -- The United States and Tombalbaye -- Tombalbaye assassinated the conseil supâerieur militaire du Tchad and Felix Malloum -- Presidents Giscard and Malloum -- Dissension within the FAN -- Qaddafi and the Sudan -- The return of the French -- Regional geopolitics in a changing world -- Egypt, Libya, Niger, and the OAU -- Habre joins Malloum -- The popular armed forces on the offensive -- Libya threatens Chad -- Habre and the transitional government of national unity -- Political disarray and violence in Ndjamena -- Libyan intervention and gunt -- France leaves, Libya arrives -- Habre is isolated -- Libya incorporates Chad -- The OAU and Chad -- The Reagan response -- The OAU and Libya -- Habre brings order -- Habre recovers -- Mitterrand assumes command -- Habre on the attack -- Libyan troops depart followed by the Gunt -- Habre triumphant -- The United States and Habre -- Qaddafi in defeat and the beginning of organized terror -- The Libyan counterattack -- The United States, Chad, and the Sudan -- Qaddafi on the attack -- Victories at Ounianga Kebir and Faya -- The Gourane counterattack -- Operation Manta -- Stabilizing the red line -- The Vittel Conference -- Pacifying the south -- Habre's Unir ; Qaddafi's CLN -- More strains within the rebel leadership -- From Tripoli to Crete -- Famine in the B.E.T. : instability in Darfur -- Famine and western relief -- Instability in the Sudan -- Qaddafi continues to meddle in Chad -- Numayri is deposed -- The Libyan buildup -- Operation âepervier -- The United States attacks Qaddafi -- Sadiq victorious -- Sadiq and Darfur -- Habre victorious -- Acheikh and the CDR revolt -- Goukouni the captive -- Habre conquers all -- Libya attacks Goukouni -- Qaddafi attacks Ibri -- Libyan forces in Darfur -- Qaddafi and Khartoum -- Victory at Wadi Doum, Darfur, and Ounianga -- The Fezzan threatened and the Hadjerai revolt -- The Fant invades Libya -- Conflict in Darfur -- Sadiq and the Libyans -- Peace in the B.E.T. -- 1988 in Ndjamena, Tripoli, and el Fasher -- Deby and the Zaghawa defy Habre -- The collapse of the Chad-Libya rapprochement -- Tribal tensions in Darfur -- Revolution in the Sudan -- Libya-Sudan brotherhood -- The Algiers agreement and the Aozou -- Habre and Deby struggle for Darfur -- Deby victorious -- The Libya-Sudan integration charter -- Deby takes the offensive -- Reaction in Darfur -- Drought in Darfur -- Deby counterattacks, again -- The more things change -- A tenuous peace before the conflict resumes in Darfur and Chad -- Regional realignment -- Chad in political change -- Habre, hail and farewell -- France, Deby, and oil -- The Aozou solution -- Disaster in Darfur -- The price of impotence -- The crisis in Darfur : Sudan liberation movement/army -- Justice and equality movement (JEM) -- The war -- The international community struggles to respond -- The media, diplomacy, and humanitarians -- Prevarications and genocide -- The Chadian connection -- The Abuja agreement.