Abdelwahit About Makaye was the leader of the Chadian rebel group FIDEL, and, after the group's fusion with other organizations, the secretary-general of the newly formed United Front for Democratic Change (FUC) rebel alliance, founded in December 2005. On January 19, 2006, About was arrested, along with nineteen other rebels, after participating in an interview to Radio France Internationale in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum, in which he stated that "FUC's relations with the Sudanese government are friendly - very close", and argued that this was in line with the tradition under which successive Chadian rebellions had seized power with some degree of support from Khartoum. The Sudanese government repeatedly denied the accusation of Chadian President Idriss Déby that the Sudanese government was providing financial and material support to the FUC.