US envoy Natsios calls off visit to Chad

Dec 14, 2006 (N’DJAMENA) — U.S. special envoy to Sudan Andrew Natsios called off a planned trip on Thursday to Chad, where he had hoped to visit camps housing Darfur refugees in the conflict-torn east, foreign diplomats said.

Chadian authorities, citing a state of emergency imposed last month, have instructed foreign diplomats not to travel to the east, the scene of violent battles in recent weeks between government forces and rebels opposed to President Idriss Deby.

Natsios, who held talks with Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir in Khartoum on Wednesday about the war in Sudan’s western Darfur region, had also been due to meet the Chadian leader Deby in N’Djamena on Thursday.

But the U.S envoy’s trip to Chad was cancelled, said the diplomats, who gave no more details and asked not to be named. It was not immediately clear whether he might visit the landlocked central African oil producer at a later date.

There was no immediate comment from the Chadian government.

Eastern Chad, which borders with Darfur, has more than 200,000 Sudanese refugees housed in camps strung along the volatile frontier region, where inter-ethnic violence and raids by Arab militia have killed hundreds in recent weeks.

Anti-Deby rebels have attacked and briefly seized several eastern towns, including Abeche, the hub of international aid operations in east Chad, which Natsios was due to visit.

“I think that basically the area is insecure, that the Chadians can’t guarantee the safety of diplomats out there,” said a security source, who asked not to be identified.

Deby’s government accuses Sudan of arming anti-Deby rebels and sending them over the border along with Arab militia raiders to destabilise his rule in Chad, which started producing oil in partnership with major U.S. oil companies in 2003. Khartoum denies these charges.

U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres is scheduled to visit Chad next week for talks with Deby. He is also to travel to UNHCR-run eastern camps housing Sudanese refugees and Chadians displaced by violence.

(Reuters)