Abdelwahid Aboud Mackaye (born 1953) is a

Chad Chad (; ar, تشاد , ; french: Tchad, ), officially the Republic of Chad, '; ) is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic ...

ian insurgent leader involved in the war to topple the

Chadian President This is a list of heads of state of Chad since the country gained independence from France in 1960 to the present day. A total of six people have served as head of state of Chad (not counting two Interim Heads of State). Additionally, one pers ...

Idriss Déby Idriss Déby Itno ' (18 June 1952 – 20 April 2021) was a Chadian politician and military officer who was the president of Chad from 1990 until his death in 2021. Déby was a member of the Bidayat clan of the Zaghawa ethnic group. A high-ranki ...

. Originally a fighter in the

Democratic Revolutionary Council The Democratic Revolutionary Council (french: Conseil démocratique révolutionnaire or ''CDR''), active in Chad, was a faction of FROLINAT founded by Ahmat AcylChadian Civil War, under Déby he became a civil servant before defecting to the rebels in 2003. After having been for a time first in the FUC and later in the

UFDD The Union of Forces for Democracy and Development is the largest group of Chadian rebel forces opposed to former President Idriss Déby. It was formed in October 2006 under the leadership of Mahamat Nouri. The group consists of: * United Front f ...

, he has founded in 2007 the UFDD-Fundamental, which has participated in February 2008 to the unsuccessful attack on N'Djamena. A Missiria Arab, Abdelwahid was born in 1953 near to

Oum Hadjer Oum Hadjer ( ar, أم هاجر) is a small city in Chad, and the capital of Batha Est Department. It straddles the ephemeral Batha River, lies on the main road between Khartoum and N'Djamena, and has a small airport. Strategically located, it has ...

Batha Batha may refer to: * Batha Region, one of the regions of Chad * Batha Prefecture, a former division of Chad * Batha, Lebanon, one of the villages in Keserwan District in Lebanon * Batha, an alternate term for garrigue, or Mediterranean scrubland * ...

. He fought as a CDR militant in 1980 in the second battle of N'Djamena which saw confronted the President

Goukouni Oueddei Goukouni Oueddei ( ar, كوكوني عويدي '; born 1944 in Zouar) is a Chadian politician who served as President of Chad from 1979 to 1982. A northerner, Goukouni commanded FROLINAT rebels with Libyan support during the first Chadian Civi ...

and his Defence Minister

Hissène Habré Hissène Habré (Arabic: ''Ḥusaīn Ḥabrī'', Chadian Arabic: ; ; 13 August 1942 – 24 August 2021), also spelled Hissen Habré, was a Chadian politician and convicted war criminal who served as the 5th president of Chad from 1982 unt ...

; during the confrontation Abdelwahid was wounded, and since then he has always limped. Successively he became a civil servant, and occupying under the government of Idriss Déby the office of subprefect. In 2003 Abdelwahid broke with Déby and passed in open rebellion. He became secretary-general of the

ian

rebel A rebel is a participant in a rebellion. Rebel or rebels may also refer to: People * Rebel (given name) * Rebel (surname) * Patriot (American Revolution), during the American Revolution * American Southerners, as a form of self-identification; s ...

group FIDEL, and, after the group's union with other organizations, one of the leaders of the newly formed

United Front for Democratic Change United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two fi ...

(FUC) rebel alliance, founded in December 2005 and under the presidency of Mahamat Nour Abdelkerim. On January 19, 2006, Abdelwahid was arrested, along with nineteen other rebels, after participating in an

interview An interview is a structured conversation where one participant asks questions, and the other provides answers.Merriam Webster DictionaryInterview Dictionary definition, Retrieved February 16, 2016 In common parlance, the word "interview" ...

Radio France Internationale Radio France Internationale, usually referred to as RFI, is the state-owned international radio broadcaster of France. With 37.2 million listeners in 2014, it is one of the most-listened-to international radio stations in the world, along with ...

in the

Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...

ese capital of

Khartoum Khartoum or Khartum ( ; ar, الخرطوم, Al-Khurṭūm, din, Kaartuɔ̈m) is the capital of Sudan. With a population of 5,274,321, its metropolitan area is the largest in Sudan. It is located at the confluence of the White Nile, flowing n ...

, in which he stated that "FUC's relations with the Sudanese government are friendly - very close", and argued that this was in line with the tradition under which successive Chadian rebellions had seized power with some degree of support from Khartoum. The Sudanese government repeatedly denied the accusation of

that the

Sudanese government Currently, the politics of Sudan takes place in the framework of a federal provisional government. Previously, a ''president'' was head of state, head of government, and commander-in-chief of the Sudanese Armed Forces in a ''de jure'' multi-par ...

was providing financial and material support to the FUC. He was released from jail shortly after. His arrest was denounced by the

Dakar Dakar ( ; ; wo, Ndakaaru) (from daqaar ''tamarind''), is the capital and largest city of Senegal. The city of Dakar proper has a population of 1,030,594, whereas the population of the Dakar metropolitan area is estimated at 3.94 million in 2 ...

-based human rights organization (RADDHO) Abdelwahid organized in April together with Nour the attack on the capital, which ended in a defeat for the rebels. During those days Déby arrested for fear of collusion with the rebels the general Ahmat Fadoul Makaye, the Chadian army's Deputy Chief of Staff and cousin of Abdelwahid. He was cleared of all suspicions and freed three days later. The latter was removed on September 26 with Issa Moussa Tamboulé from the FUC's political bureau; he was allegedly suspected of secretly plotting with the Déby government. Around the same time Abdelwahid, who represented an Arab faction increasingly hostile to Nour since his failed attack, using his position of secretary-general destituted Nour. Following this, Abdelwahid with a group of FUC dissidents united with

Acheikh ibn Oumar Acheikh Ibn-Oumar (born 1951) is a Chadian politician and military leader. In the 1980s he led the Democratic Revolutionary Council (in French CDR: Conseil Démocratique Révolutionnaire), a military-political group opposing the government of Pres ...

's Democratic Revolutionary Council (CDR) and

Mahamat Nouri General Mahamat Nouri (born 1947) 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 ...

Union of Forces for Progress and Democracy Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

(UFPD) to found on October 22 the

Union of Forces for Democracy and Development The Union of Forces for Democracy and Development is the largest group of Chadian rebel forces opposed to former President Idriss Déby. It was formed in October 2006 under the leadership of Mahamat Nouri. The group consists of: * United Front f ...

(UFDD). In April 2007, a major crisis shook the UFDD, when the Vice-President Acheikh ibn Oumar demanded Nouri a major role to his men in movement's apparatus. Nouri refused and expelled Acheikh and consolidated the control of his ethnic group, the

Gorane The Toubou or Tubu (from Tebu languages, Old Tebu, meaning "rock people") are an ethnic group native to the Tibesti Mountains that inhabit the central Sahara in northern Chad, southern Libya and northeastern Niger. They live either as Nomadic pa ...

, over the UFDD After Acheikh, also Abdelwahid, anxious to retake his freedom of movement from Nouri, left the UFDD and founded in May with Acheikh a new armed group, the

Union of Forces for Democracy and Development-Fundamental Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

(UFDD-F), an Arab-dominated group estimated to count on about 500 militants. Abdelwahid took part to the peace talks held through

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...

n mediation in

Tripoli Tripoli or Tripolis may refer to: Cities and other geographic units Greece *Tripoli, Greece, the capital of Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in ...

between the Chadian government and the leaders of four rebel movements, the UFDD with Nouri, the Rassemblement des Forces pour le Changement (RFC) with

Timane Erdimi Timane Erdimi is the leader of the Chadian rebel group Rally of Democratic Forces (''Rassemblement des Forces pour le Changement'', RFC) which had 800 soldiers in early 2008. He is a member of the ethnic group Zaghawa and nephew of the Chadian Pre ...

, The Chadian National Concord with Hassan Saleh al-Djinedi and the UFDD-F. At the beginning of the talks on June 23, Abdelwahid stated that the "problem is mostly of a constitutional order", adding that they "demand a revision of the constitution to reopen the road to transition". An important stage in the talks was reached on October 3 when the government and the four rebel groups signed an accord in Tripoli on power-sharing in the government and the integration of the rebel forces in the

Chadian army french: Armée nationale tchadienne , image = , alt = , caption = , image2 = , alt2 = , caption2 = , motto ...

. Among the rebel leaders, Abdelwahid was the only one to call the paper signed a "definitive accord", while the others only considered it provisional. Due to the latters objection the four rebel leaders signed on October 25 a new accord in Surt, presumed to be definitive, under which the armed movements would disarm in November and become political parties. The accord was broken already on November 26, giving way to violent fighting between the rebels and the government. In December, due to Sudanese pressures, reapproached himself to Nouri and Erdimi, forming with them in mid-December a Unified Military Command with Abderahman Koulamallah as spokesman. Abdelwahit claimed that after his bases within Sudan were attacked twice by the

Chad Air Force The Chadian Air Force (french: Armée de l'Air Tchadienne or AAT) is the aviation branch of the Chad National Army. It was formed in 1961 as the Chadian National Flight/Squadron ( or ENT). The force shares a base with French forces at N'Djame ...

, first on December 28 and later on January 6, 2008. By the end of January, the three rebels leaders put on the ground 3,000 men for an attack on the capital to deal onca and for all with Déby. The forces reach the capital, but are defeated after a battle that leaves 160 dead on the ground, forcing the rebels to retreat.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aboud Mackaye, Abdelwahid 1953 births Living people Chadian rebels Chadian Civil War (2005–2010) Baggara Arabs People from Batha Region