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N'DJAMENA - Chad's new prime minister named former rebel leader Mahamat Nour Abdelkerim as his defence minister today, just two months after he signed a peace deal to end his uprising against President Idriss Deby.
Nour led the United Front for Democratic Change (FUC) which launched a raid on the Chadian capital N'Djamena in April in which hundreds of people were killed, but factional feuds have since split his movement.
He signed the peace deal in late December in Tripoli, under the mediation of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, and called on other rebel leaders fighting a low-intensity war in Chad's east to lay down their weapons. They dismissed his appeal.
Nour's appointment came after Nouradine Delwa Kassire took over as Chad's prime minister following the death of his predecessor from a heart attack on February 23.
Former FUC spokesman Laona Gong Raoul was named Government Secretary General in charge of relations with National Assembly, another cabinet post. In all, nine new ministers entered the government.
Deby, who won a fresh five-year term at elections in May which were boycotted by the opposition, has faced mounting opposition to his 17-year rule in the arid, landlocked central African oil producer.
- REUTERS
