Yaya Dillo Djérou became a prominent political figure in Chad. On October 14, 2005, when the government of Idriss Déby had to admit desertions in the army, especially from the Zaghawa, the President's ethnic group. These deserters were under the leadership of Djérou; based in the Sudanese region of Darfur Djérou, a former telecommunications engineer, had left Déby's party MPS and became president of a revolutionary junta ("président du collège révolutionnaire") heading an organization called Platform for Change, Unity and Democracy (SCUD), a rebel alliance. The group has declared it plans to overthrow Déby, and is of zaghawa ethnicity. To open negotiations with the government, he has demanded that all political prisoners be freed.