Chad, Sudan to mend ties
2006-07-12 09:06
N'Djamena - Chad and Sudan have agreed to work on improving security on their volatile common border in a move aimed at patching up diplomatic ties broken off by N'Djamena in April, says Chad's foreign minister.
Ahmat Allam-Mi had travelled to Khartoum on Monday to deliver a message from Chadian President Idriss Deby to his Sudanese counterpart, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, suggesting moves to mend their relations.
Allam-Mi said: "Chad has expressed its wish to move forward and President al-Bashir has expressed the same willingness."
The initiative was a surprising diplomatic turnaround by Deby, who broke off diplomatic relations with eastern neighbour, Sudan, in April after rebels fighting to oust him attacked the Chadian capital, N'Djamena, from the east.
Deby 'backs anti-govt insurgents'
He accused Sudan of backing and arming the Chadian rebels, a charge denied by the government in Khartoum, which had in turn accused Deby of supporting Sudanese anti-government insurgents in the violent Darfur region.
Allam-Mi said: "The two countries have committed themselves to reducing the insecurity on their frontiers with a view to a swift and peaceful settling of the Chad-Sudan crisis."
He added that exchanges between the two governments would be stepped up, but didn't say when he thought formal diplomatic relations might be restored.
The minister didn't give details of what security measures would be taken along the long, porous border, across which marauding armed groups had roamed freely, killing and terrorising civilians and refugees on both sides.
Neighbours of oil producers - Chad and Sudan - especially Libya, had been pressing the two governments to end their dispute and promised not to support rebel groups.
Deby, who had ruled Chad for nearly 16 years after he seized power in a military revolt from the east, won re-election in early May in polls, which went ahead despite the threat of rebel attacks and a boycott by leading opponents.