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Ill Beshir 'postpones' summit
13/03/2008 11:14 - (SA)
Dakar - Sudan's President Omar al-Beshir blamed a headache for his failure to attend a summit on Wednesday aimed at ending bitter tensions with Chad that are fuelling a mounting African humanitarian crisis, said organisers.
Senegal had spent weeks organising the encounter between Beshir and arch-rival President Idriss Deby of Chad hoping to seal a peace deal to boost international efforts to control the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was at the Senegalese presidential palace. But Ban and Deby drove away just before midnight leaving Senegal's President Abdoulaye Wade to announce the reason for the meeting's collapse.
"I had a telephone call from President Beshir who told me: 'President Wade, I very much regret it, but I have travelled a lot and I have a headache. I cannot come in this state, but I ask you to postpone the meeting until tomorrow morning."
200 000+ people killed
Wade said a new attempt would be made on Thursday after the opening of a two-day summit of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference in Dakar.
Asked if this meant the attempt had failed Wade said "that's not nice" before laughing.
An accord could help break an arc of conflict around Chad, which included Darfur, where the United Nations estimated that more than 200 000 people had died.
Widespread doubts had been expressed about the viability of any deal even before the latest setback.
Five previous accords made by Beshir and Deby had failed. Before arriving in Dakar, Beshir had said he doubted his rival would stick to any new agreement.
As the latest diplomatic drama unfolded, the UN gave details of the mounting human suffering caused by the various conflicts.
Chad rebels storm N'Djamena
Kingsley Amaning, UN humanitarian coordinator in Chad, said there were about 490 000 refugees in the east of the country who had fled the Sudanese government's crackdown in Darfur or troubles in Central African Republic (CAR).
"Festering crises in neighbouring countries have fuelled an exodus of refugees," said Amaning in New York.
Bashir and Deby were in Dakar for the summit of Islamic leaders. Each accused the other of backing rebels fighting their governments. Each blamed the other for the failure of the five previous accords since 2003.
In February, Chadian rebels, who used bases in Sudan, stormed the capital, N'Djamena, in a bid to overthrow Deby. Deby's government said Sudan armed the rebels and gave other support.
Chad admitted in January that it had bombed targets inside Sudan that it said were rebel bases. There had been frequent border clashes between the two nation's armies.
Beshir and Deby prayed together at the Kaaba, Islam's holiest shrine at Mecca in Saudi Arabia. after signing one accord in May last year.
"After the prayers inside the Kaaba, hand in hand, we said: 'We have a deal, and may Allah punish he who breaks it,'" Beshir said.
- AFP
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