a series of military defeats, the MDJT split into several factions following the death of its leader, Youssouf Togoïmi. In 2005, under pressure from Libya, the "most legitimate" MDJT faction signed a peace agreement with the Chadian government, yet the war continued, albeit at a lower intensity. From 2009 to 2010, the last of the MDJT rebels surrendered to the Chadian government. The legacy of decades of war continues to burden the Tibesti with a lack of government, a warrior culture, and a landscape strewn with thousands of landmines. Gold rush Gold was discovered in the Tibesti Mountains in 2012, attracting prospectors from across the Sahel. The arrival of migrants has led to violent conflicts with the Teda locals, a problem exacerbated by an influx of weaponry to the region due to the wars in Darfur and Libya. Violence has also arisen as a result of disputes between the miners themselves; for example, around 100 people were killed in May 2022 over a "banal dispute" between miners. The increased migration has also increased drug traffic, with the Tibesti lying along the trans-Saharan smuggling route for South American cocaine destined for Europe. Nevertheless, the gold discovery has benefited the impoverished region economically. Many Tibesti residents have been able to purchase goods such as cars, televisions and satellite telephones that they could not otherwise afford. "If by the grace of God, gold had not appeared we would not even have anything to eat", remarked one Tibesti prospector. Scientific exploration and research Due to its isolation and geopolitical situation, the Tibesti Mountains were long unexplored by scientists. The German Gustav Nachtigal was the first European to explore, albeit with great difficulty, the Tibesti in 1869. While Nachtigal provided an accurate description of the population, his expedition was fiercely opposed by the Toubou, and his account discouraged any new adventure into the Tibesti for over 40 years. Later expeditions carried out between 1920 and 1970 yielded valuable information on the geology and petrology of the range. The French anthropologist Charles le Cœur and his wife Marguerite, a geographer, lived among the Teda of Tibesti between 1933 and 1935. Le Cœur was the first to closely study the Tibesti populace, but the outbreak of World War II prevented him from publishing his research. French Colonel Jean Chapelle published a book on the Toubou and their lifestyle in 1957. In 1965, the Free University of Berlin