SUMMARY
RAFD (Rassemblement des Forces démocratiques, Rally of Democratic Forces; alternatively called Rassemblement des forces pour le changement/RFC, Rally of Forces for Change) was an armed group active in the Chadian intrastate armed conflict over government. Since it gained independence from France in 1960, Chad has been hard-hit by armed conflict. The country has been characterized by an immense ethnic diversity, and these divisions have been exacerbated by a tradition of factionalism. Historically, there has been animosity between the mainly Muslim north and the more Christian and animist south. Another prominent feature of the Chadian conflicts has been a strong regional dimension, as particularly Libya and Sudan have had strong influence on Chad’s conflict dynamics. Following almost 25 years of internal strife, Idriss Déby and his MPS ousted President Hissène Habré in December 1990, and was able to solidify his hold on power, despite continued challenges from several armed groups. It was in this context that RAFD emerged.
RAFD was created at some point in early 2006 when three factions that had defected from President Déby’s government joined forces. In June 2005, President Déby had initiated a referendum that removed the presidential term limits and allowed him to retain power. This led to considerable dissent, even among Déby’s own Zaghawa ethnic group, which he had favored heavily since obtaining power in 1990. The most prominent Zaghawa dissident faction was SCUD (Socle pour le Changement, l’Unité et la Démocratie, or Platform for Change, Unity and Democracy), which was headed by Yaya Dilo Djerou alongside Tom and Timane Erdimi; the Erdimi brothers were not only part of Déby’s Bideyat clan, they were his nephews. RAFD was formed when SCUD entered into a coalition with two Zaghawa military factions, the first led by former army chief-of-staff Séby Aguid, and the other led by former commander of the Presidential Guard Ramadane Bokhit. RAFD’s primary goal was to overthrow President Déby, and the group vehemently rejected the May 2006 presidential election as a sham. Timane Erdimi held the overall leadership of the group, and Séby Aguid appears to have been one of its most prominent military commanders until his death in December 2006.
As indicated above, most of RAFD’s rank and file members were drawn from the Zaghawa ethnic group, of which many were defector from Chad’s Republican Guard. The total number of RAFD fighters was believed to be around 1000 in 2006. The group was active in eastern Chad, particularly around the town Abéché. RAFD received non-warring secondary support from Sudan, as it was allowed to use Sudanese territory to maintain camps and stage attacks in Chad. The Sudanese support to RAFD was part of a wider conflict complex, in which Sudan and Chad were involved in a “proxy war” against each other.
RAFD also cooperated closely with another Chadian rebel group called CNT (Concorde Nationale du Tchad, or Chadian National Concord Movement), which was led by Hassan Saleh Al-Djinédi. The CNT may even have merged with RAFD, but details on this were sparse. From 24 December 2006, RAFD was also closely allied to the UFDD umbrella organization; some sources indicated that the two even set up a joint command structure, but it was not possible to conclude a formal merger of the groups. Between 1 January and 31 December 2008, RAFD was part of Alliance Nationale (AN, or “National Alliance”) together with UFDD and UFDD-Fondamentale. Just a few weeks after the dissolution of AN, on 19 January 2009, RAFD joined a new alliance called UFR; after this date, RAFD ceased to exist as a separate actor in the UCDP data.
