UFDD Video

Here is a Brand New video From the UFDD rebels led by Abakar Tollimi .
Note the close up on the passanger in Front Seat of the Truck. He looks familiar, but Ican't quite place him.

-Shimron

Chad Peace Plan Appears to be in Ruins

The BBC's Stephanie Hancock in Ndjamena says that after some of the heaviest fighting seen in the country in several years, the ceasefire is now effectively dead in the water

Rally of Forces for Change (RFC)

• The RFC said its positions had been bombed by Chadian helicopters on Saturday, raising fears that a major ground battle could soon take place.
• A spokesman for the RFC, Id Moura Maide, told the AFP news agency that the fighting had begun when Chadian military helicopters attacked one of the group's bases in the area.
• Saturday, Chadian Foreign Minister Ahmat Allami said RFC rebel forces led by Timan Erdimi had clashed with government forces around Kalait, some 210km (130 miles) north of Abeche.
  

The UFDD

• There have been days of fierce fighting east of Abeche between Chad's army and the UFDD, during which the government said several hundred rebels had died.
• On Friday, the UFDD also said it had declared war against the French-led 3,500-strong European Union peacekeeping force which is due to be deployed in Chad in January to protect refugees from Sudan's Darfur region.
• The rebels accused French military planes of flying over their positions and passing intelligence to the government during last week's fighting. French President Nicolas Sarkozy has insisted the declaration would not jeopardise the EU mission.
• The UFDD said it had broken the ceasefire because the government failed to honour the peace agreement brokered by Libya in March.
• The clashes follow days of fierce fighting east of Abeche between Chad's army and the UFDD, during which the government said several hundred rebels had died.
• The largest of the rebel groups, the UFDD, is led by Mahamat Nouri, a former government minister and diplomat who defected from the government in April 2006, accusing Deby of corruption, and launched an armed rebellion.
• Nouri is thought to have relocated to Sudan in 2007.
• Deby's government regularly accuses Sudan of supporting the UFDD rebels, who are largely drawn from their chief Nouri's Gorane ethnic group.
• Khartoum has repeatedly denied Deby's allegations, and has in turn accused Chad of backing rebel groups fighting the Sudanese government in Darfur.
  

United Front for Change (Fuc) rebel coalition

• The latest fighting began as President Deby sacked his defence minister, Mahamat Nour.
• A former leader of the United Front for Change (Fuc) rebel coalition, Mr Nour was appointed defence minister in March after agreeing to disarm his fighters and arrange for them to be assimilated into the Chadian army.
• Correspondents say this never really happened and last week the authorities said they suspected the fighters had instead taken up arms against the government again.
• Officials say Mr Nour has taken refuge in the Libyan embassy in the Chad's capital, Ndjamena.
• The FUC Chadian rebel alliance, made up of eight individual rebel groups, all with the goals of overthrowing the government of current Chadian President.
• It is now part of the Union of Forces for Democracy and Development.
• UFDC was founded between December 26 and December 28, 2005 in Modeina in eastern Chad. FUC's "president" is Mahamat Nour Abdelkerim, the former leader of the Rally for Democracy and Liberty rebel group, "
• first vice president" Hassan Salleh Algadam, "second vice president" Abakar Tollimi, and "secretary-general" Abdelwahit About.
• On December 18 the RDL and another allied rebel group, Platform for Change, Unity and Democracy, attacked the city of Adré.
• The attack was repulsed by the Chadian military, and the Chadian government accused the Sudanese government of supporting the rebels, which Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir denies.
• Chad declared a "state of belligerance" with Sudan on December 23, 2005, resulting in the Chad-Sudan Conflict. The result was the Tripoli Agreement.
• Abdullahi Abdel Karim, the spokesperson for the Rally for Democracy and Liberty (RDL) rebels said, "Each of our groups had their own forces, men and equipment. Now, we'll be joining them together." [1]

References

• Reuters 1
• BBC 1
• Wikipedia 1

Gunnmen Enter Eastern Chad, Beat Aid Workers

N'DJAMENA (Reuters) - Armed rebels and unidentified gunmen entered two towns in eastern Chad at the weekend and beat two foreign aid workers after rebel factions abandoned a month-old ceasefire, humanitarian staff said on Sunday.

The unrest underlined deteriorating security in the area where European Union peacekeepers hope to start deploying in the next few weeks to complement a hybrid U.N./African force planned for Sudan's violent Darfur region, over Chad's eastern frontier.

Leaders of Chad's two biggest rebel movements, the Union of Forces for Democracy and Development (UFDD) and the Assembly of Forces for Change (RFC), said late on Friday they would break a ceasefire as of Sunday -- a month to the day since they groups signed a Libyan-brokered peace deal with President Idriss Deby.

Just a few hours later, on Saturday, several UFDD vehicles entered the town of Hadjer Hadid, 70 km east of the eastern city of Abeche, triggering a security alert and prompting French and Chadian helicopters to take off in a vain pursuit.

Aid workers in the area said the rebels exchanged fire with government security forces in Hadjer Hadid, though UFDD leaders said their fighters entered the town only to get water and left shortly afterwards without launching any attack.

"We will attack Deby's forces if they continue to provoke us," UFDD Secretary General Abakar Tollimi told Reuters by satellite phone on Sunday.

French forces based in Abeche stepped up security at the town's airport late on Saturday following the attack, aid workers in the city said.

Humanitarian work was suspended until further notice at two refugee camps near Hadjer Hadid, a U.N. official in Abeche said.

The Rest @ Reuters Africa