went in exile in France, where he had been named on 23 July 1959 "councillor minister" in the government guided by Michel Debré, a formal charge he would keep till 19 May 1961. In exile he continued to worry Tombalbaye as a possible menace for his regime, especially from 1971 when relations between France and Chad started cooling.

In 1976 he founded with Alain Girard a non-governmental organization, the Société mutuelle des originaires