Chadian rebels to name single leader ahead of new offensive
February 15, 2008 (LIBREVILLE) — The alliance of the three major Chadian rebel groups, which failed in its maiden bid to overthrow President Idriss Deby Itno earlier this month, has decided to appoint a single leader ahead of a new offensive on N’Djamena, a rebel spokesman said on Friday.
“We have decided not to return to N’Djamena without being united under a single leader,” said Abderaman Koulamallah.
According to AFP’s report, the rebellion had established a committee comprising the different personalities of the three movements that is tasked with “choosing a head of as soon as possible.”
The alliance is made up of the Union of Forces for Democracy and Development (UFDD) of General Mahamat Nouri, the Rally of Forces for Change (RFC) of Timan Erdimi and the UFDD faction, which is led by Abdelwahid Makaye Aboud.
Long seen as unable to agree on anything, the three armed groups joined forces in mid-December by forming a unified command, however entrusting the management of the day to day activities and operations to a “college” made up of the three rebel faction leaders.
The spokesman said, this arrangement at the helm of the rebel alliance was “one of the reasons” for the defeat the rebels suffered in the battle of N’Djamena, adding that “it is absolutely essential that we agree on one person.”
Having crossed large swathes of land across Chad, the rebels attacked N’Djamena on Feb. 2 and even seemed capable to overthrow President Deby, but the regular army mounted a huge offensive and pushed the rebels out of the capital, with the help of France, which supplied critical ammunitions.
After their defeat, the rebels gathered briefly outside the capital threatening to renew their offensive before embarking on south-ward journey towards the common border with Sudan and the Central African Republic.
Meanwhile, the rebels have denied that they had “anything to do ” with the alleged disappearance of three key opposition figures, contradicting announcements made by Chadian authorities.
“The rebels have nothing to do with it,” Koulamallah said Thursday during an earlier interview with the AFP.
“It is when we left N’Djamena on Sunday afternoon that these leaders were arrested by regular army soldiers,” said the rebel spokesman, adding that “What interest would we have to kidnap people with whom we intend to work if we ever managed to seize power?”
On Thursday, Chadian authorities had announced the launch of a criminal enquiry to determine the whereabouts of the three leaders, who include former head of state Lol Mahamat Choua, Ibni Oumar Mahamat Saleh as well as Ngarlejy Yorongar, saying that they had been abducted while visiting areas “under the control the of the rebels during the battle of N’Djamena.”
However, the Chadian interior minister appeared to be retracting his earlier statement Thursday evening, when he finally announced that one of the three, Lol Mahamat Choua, had been found “alive” and was being “detained in connection with the rebel offensive.”
(Xinhua)