Two Chadian army generals join rebels

Feb 20, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — In the most high-profile defections yet, two top Chadian army generals have deserted and joined insurgents sworn to ousting President Idriss Deby, rebels along the Sudan-Chad border said on Monday.

“General Sedi Aguid and General Ishaq al-Diar are in one of our camps on the border,” said Mahamat Nour, the leader of an alliance of nine Chadian guerrilla groups, the United Front for Democratic Change (FUC).

“It’s important to have them with us and important that the international community … sees that this now confirms that Deby is finished, he has no men with him and they should warn him he should talk with us,” Nour told Reuters by telephone from the border.

A large group of army officers including members of Deby’s family deserted in September. They took refuge in the war-torn Darfur region bordering Chad and later joined Nour, who has thousands of well-armed troops in camps along the long and porous border.

Rebels led by Nour attacked the Chadian border town of Adre in December, prompting Deby to accuse its eastern neighbour Sudan of supporting the guerrillas. N’Djamena then declared a “state of belligerence” with Khartoum.

The last two Chadian governments were installed by coups launched from Darfur and Nour’s father, the head of a powerful eastern Chadian tribe, was influential in both.

The insurgents have sent a delegation to Libya with what they call a last-chance proposal for Deby to accept a national forum for democratic change or be removed by force.

Nour said the delegation had given a written proposal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi who was reviewing it with other regional states.

He said they expected a reply in the coming days from Gaddafi as to whether he will mediate between the rebels and Deby.

“These two defections will certainly change everything in people’s minds,” Nour said.

Chadian opposition parties and Nour himself have expressed a desire to remove Deby, who they call “autocratic and corrupt,” by peaceful means rather than by force.

But Nour says if he does not agree to talks by the beginning of June, when Deby’s current presidential term ends, he will not hesitate to take up arms.

Soldiers, civil servants and even government officials in Chad have complained that salaries are not being paid. Dozens of discontented men are arriving each day in rebel camps, rebels say.

Chad was listed in 2005 by graft watchdog Transparency International as the most corrupt country in the world, along with Bangladesh.

Deby is at odds with the World Bank, which has frozen the land-locked country’s vital oil revenue account after the government approved laws to get more access to petrol dollars they were supposed to keep in reserve for social programmes.

The World Bank says this violates the loan agreement they made with N’Djamena to fund the oil industry.

(Reuters)