Chadian peace deal to be signed
2007-10-25 15:38
Tripoli - Chadian President Idriss Deby and leaders of Chad's four main rebel groups have arrived in Libya to sign a peace accord after the latest flare-up of unrest in the central African country, officials said on Thursday.
The agreement is to be signed in the Libyan town of Sirte, 600km east of Tripoli. Among those witnessing the signing will be Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir, said a Libyan official.
Abakar Tollimi, the secretary-general of the Union of Forces for Democracy and Development (UFDD), said: "All the rebel chiefs are in Tripoli and we are waiting to go to Sirte."
His group and three other rebel movements from eastern Chad, bordering Sudan's war-torn Darfur region, have been invited to Libya to ratify an accord which had been initialled in Tripoli on October 3.
N'Djamena terms the document "a definitive accord" while the rebels see it in less certain terms.
"There are still grey areas. We are certainly going to discuss this further," said Tollimi, referring particularly to the billeting of rebel fighters while awaiting their integration into the Chadian army.
Chad says the fighters will be stationed in Sudan, while the rebels say their men must be quartered in Chad.
The Tripoli accord was initialled by Chadian Minister of State for Infrastructure Adum Yunusmi and by the UFDD leader, the head of the UFDD-Fundamental group, the Rally of Forces for Change and the Chadian National Concord.