United Front For Democratic Change

The United Front for Democratic Change or Front uni pour le changement (FUC) is a 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 26–28 December 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 18 December 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 23 December 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."

On 19 January 2006, Abdelwahit About was arrested by the Sudanese government along with twenty other F.U.C. rebels, after he gave a radio interview stating that not only was he in Khartoum, but the F.U.C. had friendly ties to the Sudanese government.

On 12 April 2006, rebels from the United Front drove 1000 km from their bases near the Sudan border to the Chadian capital, N'Djamena. Their attack on the capital which occurred before dawn was repelled by the Chadian army, as reported on 13 April. (See Battle of N'Djamena.)

Read more about United Front For Democratic Change:  Rebel Groups Within FUC, 2006 Peace Accord, Child Soldiers

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