Chad says willing to Qatari efforts to end tension with Sudan
May 26, 2009 (PARIS) — Chadian President Idriss Deby responded positively on Monday to the Qatari efforts to ease the tense relations with the neighboring Sudan.
Sudan and Chad signed on May 3 a deal to normalize bilateral relations brokered by the Qatari government. However relations deteriorated rapidly after an attack by the armed opposition on the government troops in eastern Chad.
After a meeting lasted two hours with the Qatari state minister for foreign affairs Ahmed Bin-Abdullah Al-Mahmoud, Deby “reiterated its readiness (to respond to the Qatari efforts to end the current tension) while informing the Qatari diplomat of permanent belligerence of the Sudanese regime.”
Al-Mahmoud was in Khartoum before to travel to the Chadian capital. In a meeting held on Sunday, President Omer Al-Bashir expressed his support to the Qatari efforts to diffuse tension. However Sudanese officials warned that Chad must stop its support to Darfur rebels particularly the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM).
Qatar which sponsors a peace process to end the six-year conflict in Darfur, conjugates its efforts to amend Sudan Chad relations with Libya. Ali Abdelsalam Al-Triki, Libyan deputy foreign minister , following a meeting with President Al-Bashir in Khartoum last week expressed hope to implement previous agreements signed between the two neighboring countries in order to stop incursions border by rebels from both sides.
The Qatari minister disclosed last Sunday that they are preparing to hold a summit between Bashir and Deby in Tripoli soon.
Experts agree that nothing in the Sudan-Chad relationship is simple.”They describe it as a bond molded by deep cultural and tribal ties that transcend the borders separating Sudan’s western Darfur region from eastern Chad.”
Darfur conflict has affected the fragile government of President Deby as result of his tribal links with Darfur rebels. The resolution of Darfur conflict is seen as solution to cool down the political instability in the region.
However many experts caution that Chad had its own internal political troubles and even the resolution of Darfur conflict could only lead to temporary halt of the deterioration of political instability but will not end Chad problems.
(ST)