The area was where the rebel group FACT led an offensive for several weeks before it was destroyed by the Chadian armed forces.
FACT killed President Idriss Debi at the beginning of the attack, and on the day of the presidential elections. The current president, Mahamat Debi (Kaka), was elected in 2024.
The area is home to the ruling ethnic group, the Zaghawa people. They live in the Darfur region of Sudan and in northern and eastern Chad. In recent years they have been targeted by the RSF in Sudan, with ethnic militias joining the Darfur Joint Forces, a group of pro-Sudanese armed forces made up of various ethnic groups targeted by the RSF, and before that the Janjaweed.