Chad president and rebel leader sign peace accord

TRIPOLI, Dec 25 (Reuters) Chad's president and the leader of a rebel faction that tried to oust him earlier this year signed a peace accord in Libya late last night, but other Chadian insurgents dismissed the deal and vowed to fight on.

Several rebel groups bent on overthrowing President Idriss Deby have been fighting a low-intensity war in the desert,mountains and scrub of eastern Chad, occasionally striking further west.

''Our movement was in a great struggle,'' rebel military chief Mahamat Nour Abdelkerim said at the signing ceremony in Tripoli, as Deby and Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi looked on.

''Our people suffered...but now we must speed national reconciliation and bring peace to our country.'' Chad's government said the two sides had agreed to end all military activity and media campaigning against each other, to release each other's prisoners and to grant an amnesty to fighters from both sides.

It said Nour's forces would be stationed at a location agreed by both sides until they could be integrated into the national army.

Nour, whose forces raided the Chadian capital N'Djamena in April, called on the other rebel groups to sign the peace agreement and join the Chadian government.

''This is a great day for us,'' said Deby. ''Today we made a step forward on the path towards peace in Chad.'' Deby has accused Sudan of backing and arming the rebels fighting to end his 16-year-old rule as well as Arab Janjaweed militia raiders from over the border, accusations that Khartoum denies.

The Tripoli talks were the initiative of Gaddafi, who hasbeen pressing Chad and Sudan to settle their differences as partof international efforts to bring peace to Sudan's western region of Darfur.

Deby met Nour last weekend and discussed the possibility of the former army captain returning to the government side. the Chadian government said the two men would return to N'Djamena together.

However, other rebels groups said Nour was an isolated figure and dismissed the reconciliation as a non-event.

The rebel alliance still under arms includes the Union of Forces for Democracy and Development (UFDD), the Rally of Democratic Forces (RAFD), and the Platform for Change, National Unity and Democracy (SCUD).

Makaila Nguebla, a spokesman in Dakar for the National Rally for Democracy (RND), another of the groups in the rebel alliance, said yesterday the insurgents would fight on.

''For us this changes nothing. We're not interested in any mediation by Gaddafi, or by France, or by anyone. We are going to continue to fight this regime,'' he told Reuters by telephone.

REUTERS MQA RN0602