Autopsy of the new commandment of the FUC put in place after a leadership crisis
source: Gabonews, translation: courtesy of NL.
The United Front for Change (FUC – Front Uni pour le Changement), the principal Chadian rebellion, that almost overthrew President Idriss Deby Itno with a spectacular raid on the capital last April 13th, recomposed its commandment after a leadership crisis last month.
According to a statement from the rebel movement received at Gabonews this Saturday, we noted in this new FUC Office the departure of 2 personalities: the Colonel Hassane Saleh Al Gadam Al Jinedi, the former Vice-President at the origin of the dissension inside the movement and the Dr. Al Bissaty, spokesperson for the movement.
The Colonel Al Jinedi is replaced inside the new FUC bureau by Al Badour Acyl Ahmat Aghabach, the son of a fearsome charismatic Arab war chief who died at the beginning of the 1980s under strange circumstances at Lai, in the South of Chad.
The family of this war chief, an icon for the Arab Chadian community, makes for a significant entry in this new office. His daughter Tamara Acyl Ahmat Aghabach, is a member of the National Council for Change, a consultative organ of the FUC. As to Ali Aghabach, the brother of this notable war chief, he is Deputy to the Commissioner of Security.
The Dr. Abakar Tollimi, paternal uncle of Abbas Tollimi, the current Chadian Minister of Finance, keeps his post as second Vice-President of the FUC. The Chadian Minister of Finances is also the son of Haiga Deby Itno, President Idriss Deby Itno’s sister.
We thus find at the heart of the principal Chadian rebellion 3 pillars: the Tama group and those related, represented by the Captain Mahamat Nour, who keeps the Presidency of the rebel movement, the Arab group, with the entrance of the offspring of the charismatic war chief Acyl Ahmat Aghabach, and the Zaghawa group and those related, with the Dr. Tollimi.
With those 3 pillars joins a 4th component; the nomination of Raoul Laouna Gong, former Deputy Prime Minister of Foreign Affairs of Idriss Deby Itno, as spokesperson of the movement, replacing Dr. Al Bissaty who was fired.
Laouna Gong is a brilliant Massa representative from the Mayo-Kebi, in the South of Chad, the most populated region of the country. Houle Djonga Djongkamla another offspring of this transitional region, of the Toupiri ethnic group, also makes his entrance in the commandment of the FUC as member of the National Council for Change. The entrance of the 2 sons of the Mayo-Kebi is interpreted as a sign of support to the Southern region.
The Sara community, the largest in Chad and representing more then 30% of the population, finds itself also represented at the commandment of the FUC with the entry of Bandjim Bandoum as member of the National Council for Change.
The Diplomatic Relations of the rebels is entrusted to Mr. Djiddi Galmaye, Deputy of the Tibesti, and region of the former President Goukouni Weddeye. Mr. Galmaye, a close friend of former President Weddeye resigned 3 years ago to join the rebels. The professor Babikir Ismael Maikambo of the FNTR, a component of the FUC, is Commissioner of Health and Social Affairs. He is thus rewarded for his support of Mahamat Nour, even though certain representatives of the FNTR, notably the former General Secretary of the FNTR Ahmat Yacoub, are close to the colonel El Jinedi, who was excluded from the FUC.
The nomination of Colonel Ali Kedelaye Goukouni as Commissioner of Organization and Sensitization to the FUC is a manifestation of the willingness of the movement to want to spread the conflict to the West of Chad. As a matter of fact, this Colonel, according to concurring sources, would be looking at starting a rebellion network in the region of the Kanem-Lake about 250 km of the capital. Mamadou Mahamat Rigui, Vice-Governor of this locality, has actually joined the rebellion. He is Commissioner of Territorial Administration in the new executive bureau of the FUC.
Another remarkable entry into the commandment of the rebellion is the one of Sheikh Mahamat Djarma Khatir, chief of the Muslim Sufi brotherhood of Faida Djaria.
Old veteran of Chadian politics, Mahamat Djarma Khatir was a close collaborator of former President Tombalbaye. Mayor in the early 70s of what is today N’Djamena, he entered in the history of Chad as the one who changed the name of the Chadian Capital Fort Lamy to N’Djamena, “place of rest” in Chadian Arabic. He would is his later years find himself on a divine mission by starting a Sufi brotherhood. Which didn’t stop him, after 70 years later, from taking the Kalashnikov and join the rebels. The Sheikh Djarma Khatir is Commissioner of Relations with political parties and civil society in the new executive bureau of the FUC.
The 2 brothers of Captain Mahamat Nour also make a sudden entry in the bureau. Abdoulaye Abdelkerim is the Deputy Commissioner of External Relations and Abderamane Abdelkerim, member of the National Council for Change.
With the departure of Colonel Al Jinedi and Dr. Al Bissaty, The FUC is turning a new page. However, relations between the FUC and the other wing of the Chadian rebellion, the RAFD of the Erdimi brothers, continue to be at risk. In fact, neither the Captain Mahamat Nour nor Dr. Tollimi really care to take at heart the RAFD of the Erdimi bothers.
However certain observers estimate that the reality of the field will eventually force the 2 principal rebel groups to get along.
The restructuring of the FUC commandment, 3 weeks away from President Idriss Deby Itno’s induction, means that Captain Mahamat Nour, despite the presence of the French military at the side of the N’Djamena regime, plans to continue to send his men to conquer the Chadian capital, think a lot of observers.
source: Gabonews
