Former Chadian rebel leader named defense minister

March 5, 2007 (N’DJAMENA) — A former rebel leader who launched a failed assault on the capital before signing a peace deal with the president in December has been named Chad’s new defense minister.

Idriss Deby meets with rebel leader Mahamat Nour, who heads the United Front for Change (FUC), on 17 December 2006 in Guerada, north-eastern Chad.

Mahamat Nour led the United Front for Democratic Change, which launched a raid on N’Djamena in April. At least 350 people — troops, rebels and civilians — died in the assault. He signed a peace deal with President Idriss Deby in December, and appealed to other rebels to stop fighting.

Nour was appointed Sunday by Prime Minister Nouradine Delwa Kassire, who took the position after his predecessor died of a heart attack last month.

Competition for power in Chad has intensified since 2004, when it began exporting oil.

The former Chadian rebel leader signed a peace deal with the Chadian president on Dec 24, 2006 in Libya.

Since early November, about 300 people have been killed in attacks on more than 70 villages in eastern Chad near the Sudanese border, the United Nations has said.

There have been repeated warnings that the Darfur conflict in western Sudan could spill over and engulf the region where Chad, Sudan and the Central African Republic meet.

The governments of Chad and Sudan accuse one another of supporting each other’s rebels. Each side denies the charges.

Nour, from the Tama ethnic group – settled in both Sudan and Chad – was allegedly supported by the Sudanese government. According to some reports he was accused of fighting besides Darfur Janjaweed militia. His grandfather was one of Al-Mahdi lieutenants in his war against the colonial British power.

(AP/ST)