UN warns of Chad-Sudan war

2008-02-08 21:15

New York - A senior UN official on Friday warned that a reported proxy war between Sudan and Chad through rebel groups on each side of their border threatened to destabilise the region and could lead to a wider conflict.

Jean-Marie Guehenno, the French head of UN peacekeeping operations who toured Sudan's strife-torn Darfur last month, told the Security Council that the situation had been exacerbated by the violence in Chad over the past several days.

"The potentially destabilising regional implications have been highlighted by numerous media reports of Chadian rebel movements receiving support in Sudan ...and Sudanese rebel movements that have acted in support of the Chadian government," he said.

"Continuing accusations by both governments of their support for rebel movements on each side of the border increase the climate of mistrust, fuel tensions between the two countries, and once again demonstrate the potential for a conflict of international dimensions in the area," he added.

He said recent fighting between Sudanese government forces and the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) headed by Khalil Ibrahim in West Darfur "remains one of our principal security concerns".

Guehenno, who toured troops of the UN-African Union peacekeeping force (UNAMID) in Darfur during his January 21-31 visit, also served notice that the force "is severely under-resourced for the tasks which it was mandated to perform".

When fully deployed, UNAMID is to become the UN's largest peacekeeping operation with 20 000 troops and 6 000 police and civilian personnel.

But only around 9 000 troops and police are currently in place.

- AFP