Libya, Chad leaders discuss humanitarian situation in Sudan’s Darfur region

TRIPOLI, Libya, July 04, 2004 (Sudan Tribune) — The Chadian president, Idriss Debby, yesterday phoned the Libyan leader, Moamer Kadhafi’s, regarding stabilizing the situation in eastern Chad, as a result of the influx of thousands of refugees from Sudan’s Darfur region

According to the official Libyan news agency JANA, Deby asked Kadhafi’s to continue his efforts in order to solve the problem caused by the current events in eastern Chad near the border with Sudan.

The Chadian president also asked him to continue efforts with countries and international organizations to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to meet the basic needs of refugees in the region.

The influx of refugees have caused humanitarian disaster in the region.

Nearly 200,000 terrified villagers have sought sanctuary in the deserts of Chad, near the border of Sudan. They are some of the more than 1 million people chased from their homes in the past 16 months in what humanitarian workers call a systematic campaign of terror in Sudan’s Darfur region.

The two leaders also held consultations on items on the African Union summit agenda to be held next week and the progress of Comessa following decisions taken at its fifth summit.

Libya has offered their country’s help to end the humanitarian crisis and restore stability in Sudan’s war-torn western region of Darfur.

Colonel Moamer Kadhafi’s envoy Abubakr Younis Jabir, in Khartoum for celebrations for the 15th anniversary of Omar al-Beshir’s seizure of power in a coup, delivered the offer in talks with the president last week.

Last week, President Bush’s national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, said “We’re working with others, with the Libyans, to try to get a third route for supplies to get in to Darfur,”.