Chad rebels break with peacemaker

Chadian government sources, asking not to be named, said Nour’s group of an estimated 600 men with their 60 vehicles were currently based at Guereda, a town in the east of Chad under government control about 30km from the border with Sudan.

Adoum Younousmi, the minister of infrastructure, and a signatory of the accord, told AFP news agency after the accord was signed that Nour’s force included between 3,000 and 4,000 men, some of whom would be integrated into the Chadian army.

The United Front for Democratic Change, set up in December 2005, reached the outskirts of the capital N’Djamena in a lightning offensive on April 13 before being driven back by government forces.
  
Since then, the group has split up into several rival factions, and is no longer seen as so powerful militarily, though other movements have stepped up their activity in eastern Chad and earlier this month clashed with government forces.