General Mahamat Nouri (born 1947)G. Ngansop, Tchad, vingt d'ans de crise, L'Harmattan, (1986), 186, is a Chadian insurgent leader who currently commands the Union of Forces for Democracy and Development (UFDD). A Muslim from northern Chad, he began his career as a FROLINAT rebel, and when the group's Second Army split in 1976 he sided with his kinsman Hissène Habré. As Habré's associate he obtained in 1978 the first of the many ministerial positions in his career, becoming Interior Minister in a coalition government. When Habré reached the presidency in 1982, Nouri was by his side and played an important role in the regime.
Following Habré's downfall in 1990, Nouri passed his allegiance to his successor, Idriss Déby, under whom he rose once again to great prominence, remaining in the cabinet without interruption from 1995 to 2004. After that he was sent as Chad's ambassador to Saudi Arabia: while in that country he broke with Déby in 2006, joining armed opposition against him.
Nouri led the creation, from a plurality of armed movements, the most powerful of the Chadian rebel groups, the Union of Forces for Democracy and Development (UFDD). He started a series of attacks against government positions in eastern Chad in autumn 2006, causing serious difficulties to Déby. After the ultimate failure of a series of talks held in Libya in 2007, Nouri coalesced with two other rebel groups and launched a direct attack on the Chadian capital in February 2008, but was repelled after days of heavy fighting.
On 17 June 2019 he was arrested by the French police, as were Abakar Tollimi and Abderaman Abdelkerim (brother of Mahamat Nour Abdelkerim), on suspicion of crimes against humanity in which he was implicated between 2005 and 2010 in Chad and Sudan. following a procedure opened in 2017.
Nouri and Hissène Habré An ethnic Daza clan of the Anakaza subclan like the former President Hissène Habré,"They Came Here to Kill Us": Militia Attacks and Ethnic Targeting of Civilians in Eastern Chad, Human Rights Watch Reports, 19 (1), January 2007, p. 17. Nouri was born in 1947 in Faya-Largeau in northern Chad.
Nouri received a formal education and became a postal official.C. Boisbouvier, , Jeuneafrique.com, 10-2-2008. He successively entered in the ranks of the FROLINAT, the rebel movement that was waging a civil war against the central government. When the Second Army of the FROLINAT divided itself in 1977 among the supporters of Habré and those of Goukouni Oueddei, Nouri sided with Habré and was one of the very few men to be by Habré's side for the entire length of the latter's political career.R. Buijtenhuijs, Le Frolinat et les guerres civiviles du Tchad (1977-1984), Karthala, (1987), 348, As number 2 of Habré's rebel Armed Forces of the North (FAN) with the rank of inspector-general, he was given the leadership of the FAN delegation that negotiated the Khartoum peace accord with the Chadian government in 1978.G. Ngansop, Tchad, 185 During the coalition government created from this accord between President Félix Malloum and the former rebel leader Habré, now nominated Prime Minister, Nouri held the decisive post of Minister of the Interior, although he was well known for his low opinion of Southern Chadians.R. Buijtenhuijs, Le Frolinat, 61J. Millard Burr & R. Collins, Darfur: The Long Road to Disaster, Markus Wiener Publishers, (2006), 125, After the collapse of the coalition in February 1979, Nouri became Minister of Transport in the first Goukouni government that followed.G. Ngansop, Tchad, 198"Internal security and Political Developments - Mediation by Neighbouring and Other Countries - Libyan Military Involvement - Formation of Transitional Government of National Unity, November 1979", Keesing's Record of World Events, Volume 26, February 1980, p. 30599.
When Habré rebelled against Goukouni in 1980, Nouri was once again by his side, and for this he was tried by a special criminal court and on June 13, 1981, sentenced together with Idriss Miskine to hard labour for life, while the leader of the FAN, Habré, was sentenced to death."Military Developments - Resumption of FAN Activities - Clashes between Rival Government Forces - Egyptian Acknowledgment of Aiding FAN - Soviet and East German Denial of Involvement", Keesing's Record of World Events, Volume 27, October 1981, p. 31161. This did not deter Nouri from returning to prominence when Habré conquered the capital N'Djamena in 1982: as Habré's right hand, Nouri became the new regime's number 2. In 1984 he was made Commissioner for External Affairs in the Executive Bureau of the country's only legal party, the National Union for Independence and Revolution (UNIR), and was to eventually obtain the chairmanship of the party.
One of Habré's most seasoned and flexible commanders, he participated to the final phase of the Chadian-Libyan conflict as commander of the Chadian forces during the battle of Aouzou in August 1987.
With Idriss Déby and breakup After Habré was ousted by the rebel forces of Idriss Déby in December 1990, Nouri became a close ally of the new President"Country Report Chad", Economist Intelligence Unit, August 2002 and a pillar of his regime. In the transitional coalition government formed following the 1993 Sovereign National Conference, Nouri became Minister of Health under Prime Minister Fidèle Moungar."Beginning of transition period", Keesing's Record of World Events, Volume 39, April 1993, p. 39402. In 1995, when Koibla Djimasta was appointed as the last transitional Prime Minister, Nouri was named Minister of the Interior; while holding this post, he also chaired the Commission Nationale Recensement Électoral (CNRE), created in 1995 to organise the voter registration for the first multiparty elections in Chad since independence."New Chad Cabinet", Keesing's Record of World Events, Volume 41, April 1995, p. 40491. Following Déby's victory in the 1996 presidential election, Nouri was moved from his post as Minister of the Interior to that of Minister for Livestock."New Government", Keesing's Record of World Events, Volume 42, August 1996, p. 40491. He kept the latter post for five years; he left it on February 24, 2001, when he was appointed as Minister of National Defence in the government chaired by Nagoum Yamassoum."Chad", Keesing's Record of World Events, Volume 47, February 2001, p. 43989."Le gouvernement du Tchad, formé le 25 février 2001" , Afrique Express . He left his post and the government three years later, during a cabinet reshuffle that took place on February 2, 2004. Nouri's entourage gave ill health as the reason for his departure. He was successively posted for two years to Saudi Arabia as an ambassador, until he left his position on May 6, 2006.
Nouri stepped down on the eve of the controversial second reelection of Déby as President, arguing that the country was undergoing one of the gravest crises in its history and that the responsibility for this was exclusively Déby's. He also made clear that while joining the rebellion he had no intention of becoming a member of any existing armed movement."Ex-Defence Minister joins rebels, opposition says vote illegitimate", AP (Sudantribune.com), May 6, 2006. The former ambassador was promptly attacked by the Chadian government, whose spokesman Hourmadji Mousa Doumgor accused him of paying men in Sudan US $250 each to join the group he was allegedly forming."UN warns humanitarian pull out possible", IRIN, May 16, 2006. As a means of weakening Nouri's Gorane power-base, it was reported that in August the Chadian government started arming the Kamaya Gorane subclan, historically rivals of the Anakaza, thus stirring further hostility among the Gorane."They Came Here to Kill Us", p. 23
Judged a charismatic and experienced leader, Nouri was considered the greatest threat faced by Déby since the rebellion of another former Minister of Defense, Youssouf Togoïmi. Another reason of danger represented by Nouri for Déby was that he may have been seen by Regional powers such as the Libya as an acceptable alternative to the current president. Such scenarios were elaborated by the Chadian newspaper Le Temps, which, remembering Nouri's past links with Sudan and Egypt while a man of Habré, speculates about a French and plan to overthrow Déby with Egyptian and Sudanese support. Part of the alleged plan would be his taking the overall command of the Chadian armed opposition from the contested Mohammed Nour.
Foundation of the UFDD Nouri directed himself to Sudan and gave birth in July to a new formation, the Union of Forces for Progress and Democracy (Union des forces pour le progrès et la démocratie or UFPD)."Chad ex-Defence Minister forms new armed movement", BBC Monitoring International Reports, July 27, 2006."Echo effects: Chadian instability and the Darfur conflict" , Sudan Issue Brief 9, ReliefWeb, February 2008. On the morning of October 22 Nouri founded a new rebel coalition, the Union of Forces for Democracy and Development (UFDD), which included three movements: his UFPD, the Democratic Revolutionary Council (CDR) led by Acheikh ibn Oumar and a splinter faction of the United Front for Democratic Change under Abdelwahid Aboud Mackaye,A. Jaulmes, "Offensive rebelle au Tchad, en provenance du Soudan", Le Figaro, October 26, 2006. giving birth to a Toubou-Arab coalition. Acheikh became Vice-President while Nouri obtained the presidency, allegedly installed by the Sudanese military intelligence. On the same day the new formation left its bases for in Darfur and with 800 men mounted on 70 off-road vehicles passed for the first time the Chadian-Sudanese border. It directed its attack towards the town of Goz Beïda, that was briefly occupied, while the following day it was Am Timan to end under attack. The Chadian Prime Minister Pascal Yoadimnadji immediately accused the Sudanese government of being behind the attack, arguing that the rebels had attacked from Sudan and that they could not have obtained their military equipment without Sudanese help."Goz Beida et Am Timan investis par des rebelles" , L'Observateur N°395 (tchadactuel.com), October 25, 2006.D. Samson, Nouvelles attaques rebelles, RFI, October 24, 2006.
Shortly after its formation three smaller armed groups joined the UFDD: these were the Armed Resistance against Anti-Democratic Forces (RAFAD) led by Hassan Dahab, the Popular Rally for Justice (RPJ) led by Abakar Tollimi, and the National Democratic Rally (RND) led by Adouma Hassaballah. Also with the help of the latter commander the Ouaddaians became together with the Gorane and the Arabs one of the three key elements of the UFDD."They Came Here to Kill Us", p. 69Ali Moussa Izzo, UFDD: clarification sur la liste des mouvements intégrés , tchad-net.com, January 11, 2007.