The major rebel faction is Gen. Mahamat Nouri’s Union of Forces for Democracy and Development (UFDD).

General Nouri, who is well past 50, served as minister of defence under President DEby four years ago before being appointed ambassador to Saudi Arabia.

He resigned dramatically while in Saudi Arabia to become a rebel in eastern Chad, accusing the president of plunging the country into an abyssal depression.

Sources say UFDD boasts between 3,000 and 6,000 fighters.

Observers regard the Rally of the Forces of Change (RFC) as the second largest rebel movement hostile to the regime in N’djamena.

The rebel faction is typical in that it is composed of former Presidential Guard officers that attempted to overthrow President Déby on 16 May 2005.

Timane Erdimi, the president’s nephew and former power behind the regime nicknamed the State House’s Rasputin, heads RFC.

A former presidential executive, Erdimi, 55, is feared and respected for his intelligence and wits. He made and broke men in the Chadian political jungle for nearly 15 years.

To mar his uncle’s attempts to review the constitution in a bid to remain in power, he managed, even within the Presidential Guard, to set many soldiers against the proposed amendment.

The Presidential Guard attempted to kill Deby in May 2005 as he returned from a visit abroad, but the French base in Chad came in to foil the attempt in the eleventh hour, an attempted putsch many observers blamed on the Erdimi twins – Tom and Timane.

Placed under close surveillance, Timame Erdimi took advantage of a visit to the Gulf countries to join his men who, meanwhile, had taken refuge in eastern Chad.

From there he united most of the president’s close relatives who carried out the aborted military coup, and created the RFC, which claims between 500 and 1000 fighters.

However, these figures may be reviewed upwards as other groups have reportedly joined the rebels during the recent events.

The Chadian National Convention (CNT), which is led by Colonel Saleh Al Hassane Gadam Al Jinedi, a former trainee of the Tripoli military academy in Libya, is the third largest rebel movement active in eastern Chad.

An internecine crisis has been rocking the rebel movement for a few days after the hardliners led by Colonel Hamid Abdelkader toppled Colonel Al Jinedi and his deputy Sheikh Al Fal. Jinedi was blamed for weakness toward President Déby Itno.

A board headed by Colonel Hamid Abdelkader, a hardliner, now rules CNT, which is also credited to have a thousand men.

The fourth largest movement, UFDD-Fundamental, a splinter group from General Nouri\’s original UFDD, came into the limelight last Wednesday when it captured the south-eastern town of Addé.

UFDD-Fundamental is led by Abdelwahid Aboud Mackaye and is also believed to boast at least 500 fighters.

UFDD, UFDD-Fundamental, RFC and CNT are the four movements that signed a peace agreement on 25 October last year in Libya, but only CNT continues to uphold the truce with the government though this is expected to be short-lived as Colonel Hamid Abdelkader likely force his way to the movement’s leadership.

The four rebel movements which signed the peace agreement with the Chadian government on 25 October in Libya share their hostility towards the rule of Idriss Deby with as many armed small groups.

The UFDD-Fundamental of Abdelwahid Aboud Mackaye, and United Front for Change (FUC) of General Mahamat Nour are also fighting N’djamena.

In April 2006, the FUC launched an impressive raid on the Chadian capital from its base, 1,000 kilometres away, in less than one week.

Reaching the doors of the capital on 13 April 2006, the FUC was pushed back thanks to the support of the French military.

General Nour finally signed an agreement with President Deby in December 2006, before being appointed National Defense Minister following the intervention of the Libyan leader, Colonel Moammar Kadhafi.

However, he was sacked five days ago and his men are back in the bush while he has taken refuge in the Libyan embassy in N’djamena.

In addition the five movements considered as most important, there is a huge number of other movements including the Union of Change Forces (UFC) of Colonel Adoum Yacoub Kougou.

In a press release published on Wednesday, the UFC also threatened to fight the Chadian government.

UFC comprises three small rebel movements — the Movement for Unity and Republic (MUR), People’s Front for National Revival (FPRN) and People’s Democratic Front (FDP).

The UFC has several times been seen in Tissi at the Chadian border with Sudan and the Central African Republic.

Colonel Djibrine Dassert, former fellow traveller of Idriss Deby, operates a resistance movement at the Niellim Mountains in the south with his People’s Movement for Revival and Development (MPRD).

Colonel Dassert surprised everyone in November 2005 when he and a handful of men launched a spectacular offensive against the camp of the anti-riot police of N’djamena, located near the State House.

After stealing weapons at the camp, the Southerner colonel withdrew to the Niellim Mountains from where the army is yet to dislodging him. He reportedly slipped further to the east near the Sudanese border.

The National Telssi-Renaissance of Colonel Michel Mbaïlemel is another Southerner movement, which operates on Chad-Central African Republic border.

Colonel Mbaïlemel has been part of almost all the rebel groups of southern Chad since the Eighties.

Apart from these many rebel movements, there are ten other movements, which mostly command "e-warfare" against President Idriss Deby Itno through the Internet.