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Abéché is the 4th largest city in Chad, the capital of Ouaddaï Region. The
town is served by Abéché Airport.
History
The city of Abéché was made capital of the Ouaddai Kingdom - Sultanat de Quaddai- in
the 1890s, after the wells at Ouara, the former capital, had dried out. In
1909, French troops invaded the Kingdom and established a garrison
in Abéché. France took power,
forcing the sultan to renounce his throne. At that time, Abéché was
the largest city in Chad with 28,000 people, but major epidemics
reduced the population to 6000 in 1919. In 1935, the sultanate was
restored by orders of the French government, and Muhammed Ouarada,
heir to the throne after his father became king. Once one of the
strongholds of the Arabic slave trade route, the city is known
today for its markets, mosques, church,
square (the Place de l'Indépendance) and for its sultan's palace. Abéché has several
schools, a hospital, a university and is one of the major garrisons
of the Armee Nationale du Tchad ANT . There is a small airport (IATA:
AEH, ICAO:
FTTC), Airport ID: AE, operated sunrise to sunset
(SR-SS) with flights to N'Djaména.
On 25 November 2006, the city was taken by the Union of
Forces for Democracy, a rebel group that seeks to depose
president Idriss
Déby. Extensive looting took place during the night. On the
same day, nearby Biltine was captured by the Rally of
Democratic Forces, another rebel group. A day later, both
cities were retaken by the Chadian army[1].
On October 30, 2007, the city came to international attention
when 17 French volunteers working for the charity Zoé's Ark were
arrested there for alleged child abduction.
Abeche is the centrum for the delivery of humanitarian
assistance for approx. 240,000 Darfurian refugees living in 12
camps east of the town, in the border region to Sudan. A number of
organizations opened office 2003 and 2004, e.g. UNHCR,
the Red Cross, the German GTZ and UNICEF.
Climate
Abeche has perhaps the hottest climate of any major city. It
gets 336 days a year above 90F(32C) and has a year round average
daily high temperature of 102F.[2]
| Weather data for
Abeche |
| Month |
Jan |
Feb |
Mar |
Apr |
May |
Jun |
Jul |
Aug |
Sep |
Oct |
Nov |
Dec |
Year |
| Average high °F (°C) |
101
(38) |
103
(39) |
108
(42) |
110
(43) |
108
(42) |
105
(41) |
96
(36) |
90
(32) |
96
(36) |
103
(39) |
102
(39) |
99
(37) |
102
(39) |
| Average low °F (°C) |
59
(15) |
63
(17) |
70
(21) |
73
(23) |
76
(24) |
75
(24) |
72
(22) |
69
(21) |
71
(22) |
68
(20) |
66
(19) |
60
(16) |
69
(21) |
| Precipitation inches
(mm) |
0
(0) |
0
(0) |
0
(0) |
0
(0) |
1
(25.4) |
1
(25.4) |
5.6
(142.2) |
9.1
(231.1) |
2.6
(66) |
0.6
(15.2) |
0
(0) |
0
(0) |
19.9
(505.5) |
|
Source: {{{source}}} {{{accessdate}}} |
Demographics
| Year |
Population[3] |
| 1988 |
40 000 |
| 1993 |
54 628 |
| 2008 |
78 191 |
References
Coordinates: 13°49′59″N 20°50′05″E / 13.83306°N
20.83472°E / 13.83306;
20.83472