Sudan asks Libya to take care of its interests
April 15, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — Sudan asked on Saturday the Libyan embassy in N’Djamena to take care of its interests in Chad, one day after Chadian President Idriss Deby decided to sever diplomatic relations with Sudan and expel Sudanese diplomats from Chad.
However, spokesman of Sudan’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs Jamal Mohammed Ibrahim told reporters that the Sudanese government was not determined on whether to take further actions, including closing the Chadian embassy in Khartoum or expelling the Chadian ambassador, in response to Chad’s decision.
“We have not decided till now about what next steps should be taken on our diplomatic relations with Chad,” Ibrahim said.
He said that the Chadian authorities gave the Sudanese diplomats in N’Djamena a respite of five days to leave Chad, which forced the Sudanese government to “entrust the Libyan embassy to look after our interests there.”
“We expect that the Chadian government will also ask its embassy staff in Khartoum to leave Sudan, but we don’t have information on that,” he added.
Describing Chad’s decision to break off diplomatic ties with Sudan as “a unilateral and hasty action which was not based on objective truths”, the spokesman hold the Chadian government responsible for the consequences.
He also expressed Sudan’s regret over Chad’s decision as well as its threat to expel some 200,000 Sudanese refugees who came to Chad to escape the over three-year-long conflict in Sudan’s western Darfur region, saying “this threat contradicts all the international accords concerned with the refugee problems.”
Chadian President Deby announced on Friday that his government had decided to break off diplomatic relations with Sudan, accusing it of supporting rebels who attempted to storm N’Djamena.
The Chadian president made the announcement shortly after the army defeated a rebel attack, in which, according to the government, more than 350 people, including troops, rebels and civilians, were killed and 271 rebels were captured.
The Sudanese government, however, denied again on Friday any involvement in rebel activities in eastern Chad, reiterating its commitment to an agreement signed by the two countries’ heads of state earlier this year which called for good neighborhood.
(Xihanu/ST)