Nouri and Hissène Habré
An ethnic Daza of the Anakaza subclan like the former President Hissène Habré, Nouri was born in 1947 in Faya-Largeau in northern Chad.
Nouri received a formal education and became a postal official. He successively entered in the ranks of the FROLINAT, the rebel movement that was waging a civil war against the central government. When the Second Army of the FROLINAT divided itself in 1977 among the supporters of Habré and those of Goukouni Oueddei, Nouri sided with Habré and was one the very few men to be by Habré's side for all the length of the latter's political career. As number 2 of Habré's rebel Armed Forces of the North (FAN) with the rank of inspector-general, he was given the leadership of the FAN delegation that negotiated the Khartoum peace accord with the Chadian government in 1978. During the coalition government created from this accord between President Félix Malloum and the former rebel leader Habré, now nominated Prime Minister, Nouri held the decisive post of Minister of the Interior, although he was well known for his low opinion of Southern Chadians. After the collapse of the coalition in February 1979, Nouri became Minister of Transport in the first Goukouni government that followed.
When Habré rebelled against Goukouni in 1980, Nouri was once again by his side, and for this he was tried by a special criminal court and on June 13, 1981, sentenced together with Idriss Miskine to hard labour for life, while the leader of the FAN, Habré, was sentenced to death. This did not deter Nouri from returning to prominence when Habré conquered the capital N'Djamena in 1982: as Habré's right hand, Nouri became the new regime's number 2. In 1984 he was made Commissioner for External Affairs in the Executive Bureau of the country's only legal party, the National Union for Independence and Revolution (UNIR), and was to eventually obtain the chairmanship of the party.
One of Habré's most seasoned and flexible commanders, he participated to the final phase of the Chadian-Libyan conflict as commander of the Chadian forces during the battle of Aouzou in August 1987.
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