Chad objects to Sudan hosting January AU summit

Dec 20, 2005 (N’DJAMENA) — Chad said on Tuesday its neighbour Sudan should not host an African Union summit next month following rebel attacks on a Chadian border town it said were backed by the Sudanese government.

In a message to foreign ambassadors, Chadian Foreign Minister Ahmat Allam-Mi accused Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir of threatening stability in the region and questioned whether he should host the AU summit scheduled for Jan. 23-24.

“We think it is not appropriate that Khartoum host this summit, since the government of Sudan destabilises Chad and exerts a heavy threat against the peace and security of the sub-region,” said Allam-Mi in the message, which was posted on the Chadian government’s official Web site on Tuesday.

“Africa should not allow al-Bashir to become the next president of the (African) Union, unless it wants to push him into persevering with his catastrophic and bellicose policies both in his own country and towards his neighbours,” he added.

The latest criticism from N’Djamena against Khartoum followed statements by Chad that its armed forces had repulsed attacks against its eastern border town of Adre on Sunday launched by Chadian rebels and army deserters.

Chad said on Monday its troops had chased the attackers across the border into Sudan and destroyed their bases there, killing about 300 of the rebels.

Allam-Mi said opponents of his country’s government were sheltering in Sudan’s western Darfur region “received and equipped as though they were part of the Sudanese army”.

“Chad has taken every measure to face any attack coming from Sudan and it reserves the legitimate right of pursuit if the need arises,” he added in his message to the ambassadors.

The clashes raised tensions in Sudan’s Darfur where rebels have fought Sudan’s central government for almost three years.

Scores of Chadian soldiers deserted their barracks in late September before regrouping near the border, and the government has accused Sudan of using the deserters to fight rebels in Darfur and of backing Chadian rebel activities.

PRISONERS CAPTURED

Chadian officials said army deserters allied to the rebel Rally for Democracy and Liberty (RDL) mounted Sunday’s attack.

The deserters, also accused of attacking army bases in the capital N’Djamena, have demanded President Idriss Deby resign.

Chad’s national radio reported on Tuesday the government forces had captured around 60 of the rebels. It quoted some of the prisoners as saying they were press-ganged into taking part in attacks on Adre launched from Sudanese territory.

The radio also quoted a Chadian military commander, General Alifa Wedeye, as saying that documents demonstrating Sudan’s involvement in the attack had also been recovered from the battlefield. But no more details were given.

Allam-Mi said Chad’s government supported international efforts to try to bring peace to the Darfur region in western Sudan, an area the size of France where tens of thousands have been killed by fighting in recent years and more than two million people forced to flee their homes.

“We appeal to the international community which you represent to condemn these acts of aggression against Chad by the Khartoum regime,” the foreign minister told the ambassadors in his message.

(Reuters)