Chadian president says time has come for peace in Darfur

December 5, 2011 (KHARTOUM) — Chadian president Idris Deby said today that bilateral relations with the neighbouring Sudan are strategic stressing that time has come for peace in Darfur.

Deby arrived Monday in the Sudanese capital where he was received by President Omer al-Bashir at Khartoum Airport. The atmosphere of good relations dominated their reunion, reminiscent of the years of close brotherhood between the two leaders before 2004.

His visit comes two weeks after the visit of the head of the Libyan National Transitional Council (NTC) who accepted a Sudanese mediation to amend relations between Tripoli and Ndjamena.

Speaking to the media on Monday evening, Bashir and Deby, both said that strategic “relations are at their best”. They also said they had discussed issues related to economic and security cooperation between the two countries.

The two presidents said they endorsed projects to link Chad and Sudan through roads and railways. Last years the two countries discussed plans to link Port Sudan on the Red See and Ndjamena. The two countries also sealed an agreement on oil cooperation.

Speaking about Darfur, Deby reiterated his support to the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur and stressed that the peace agreement created a situation of calm and security, ending the war and violence in the region.

“The people of Darfur understood well that the time of peace has come, and there is no room for (more) violence, further said.

There were no official statements on the security issues. However informed sources said the Chadian president convinced Sudanese rebels not to reignite violence in Darfur and to seek a negotiated settlement with Khartoum. However it is not clear if he came with a new proposal for talks.

The Sudanese government was angered by the return of Khalil Ibrahim, leader of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), from Libya to Sudan through Chad, but the two countries quickly overcame the issue. Ndjamena and Khartoum even discussed eventual joint military action against rebel groups in the region.

Since the normalisation of relations with Khartoum in 2010 after five years of accusation over support to rebel groups, Deby has sought to convince the JEM rebels to sign a peace agreement with Khartoum. When JEM froze its participation at the peace process in May 2010, Ndjamena refused to allow the JEM leader to cross into Darfur through its territory.

In a separate meeting with the head of the Liberation and Justice Movement (LJM) Tijani el-Sissi who signed the DDPD, the visiting president discussed ways to establish security in Darfur. Sissi said Deby advised them to include all the components of Darfur.

The head of Darfur Regional Authority also said he had discussed the return of 400,000 Sudanese refugees disclosing he will pay a visit soon to Ndjamena to prepare the return of Darfurians to their homeland.

Last week Khartoum arrested Abdelawahid Aboud Makaye, Second Vice-President of the Chadian opposition Union of Resistance Forces (UFR). Opposition sources said his arrest was requested by Ndjamena as he was the only remaining rebel figure in Sudan.

(ST)