Timane Erdimi is the leader of the

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 rebel group

Rally of Democratic Forces The Rally of Democratic Forces (french: Rassemblement des Forces Démocratiques, RFD), or Assembly of Democratic Forces, is a political party in Mauritania. It is led by Ahmed Ould Daddah. In October 2000, the Union of Democratic Forces-New Era ...

(''Rassemblement des Forces pour le Changement'', RFC) which had 800 soldiers in early 2008. He is a member of the ethnic group

Zaghawa Zaghawa may refer to: * Zaghawa people * Zaghawa language Zaghawa is a Saharan language spoken by the Zaghawa people of east-central Chad (in the Sahel) and northwestern Sudan (Darfur). The people who speak this language call it Beria, from ''Be ...

and nephew of the Chadian President

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 ...

.Seibert HB (November 2007
MIT Security Studies Program Working Paper
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Biography

An international arrest warrant was issued by Chad for Erdimi in 2007. He was among 12 people sentenced to death ''in absentia'' by a Chadian court on August 15, 2008. Responding to this sentence, Erdimi said that he had been unaware of the trial and remarked that it was his opponents in the government who "should be put on trial". Despite past differences, various rebel groups, including the RFC, agreed to unite as the

Union of Resistance Forces The Union of Resistance Forces (french: Union des forces de la résistance, ar, اتحاد قوى المقاومة; abbreviated UFR) is an alliance of Chadian rebel groups. Origins The UFR was founded in mid-January 2009 as an alliance of eight ...

on January 19, 2009. Erdimi said that this move would "allow us to better fight against the regime", and he spoke scornfully of the improvements Déby had made to his military, saying that Déby "should have bought robots for his new tanks and planes" because "he won't find anyone to drive and fly them when we attack." The Union of Resistance Forces reportedly chose Erdimi by consensus to lead the new group on January 23. By 2017, Erdimi was living in exile in

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...

; from there, he was still commanding a loyal rebel force which was based in southern Libya. His continued activities resulted in Chad severing diplomatic relations with Qatar, arguing that the later state was supporting "terrorism".

References

Chadian rebels Living people People sentenced to death in absentia Zaghawa people Year of birth missing (living people) {{chad-bio-stub