Chad in ‘state of belligerence’ with Sudan: official
Dec 23, 2005 (NDJAMENA) — Chad is in a “state of belligerence” with neighbouring Sudan, which it blames for an attack last weekend on one of its border towns, the Chadian government said Friday.
“Chad is today in a state of belligerence with Sudan. The friends of Chad must support it by all means possible in this ordeal,” government spokesman Hourmadji Moussa Doumgor told reporters.
The comments came after Chadian President Idriss Deby on Thursday accused his Sudanese counterpart of plotting to destabilise his country, blaming Khartoum for a rebel attack on the frontier town of Adre.
The president made the accusation during a visit to the town to decorate troops who killed about 100 rebels repelling the attack on Sunday by Rally for Democracy and Liberty forces.
“The government of Chad believes that one must not stop at simple condemnations of principle but that the enemy of Chad must be pointed out … (and that is) President Omar Hassan Ahmed el Bechir” or Sudan, the Chadian spokesman added Friday.
He also called on Chadians to mobilise themselves against Sudanese aggression.
But Khartoum sought to downplay the situation.
“We are not for any escalation with Chad,” Sudanese foreign ministry spokesman Jamal Mohammed Ibrahim told AFP by telephone, adding that “we technically deny involvement in Chadian internal affairs.”
Although he was not able to comment directly on Doumgor’s declaration, Ibrahim said “I do not think it’s a big issue.”
Recent weeks have seen a volley of accusations between Chad and Sudan, with Ndjamena charging that Khartoum has been hosting rebels and a growing wave of army deserters in order to destabilise Chad.
Sudan has said Chad deployed planes and troops on its territory before the latest incident, allegations denied by Ndjamena.
Several new rebel groups have sprung up recently in eastern Chad, a region inundated by some 200,000 refugees from the civil war in Sudan’s Darfur region.
Sudan’s ambassador to Chad was called to the foreign ministry in Ndjamena Friday and told that “the Sudanese government must cease all aggression against Chad,” a ministry communique said.
According to foreign observers interviewed by AFP, Deby is trying to “internationalize” Chad’s internal problems to attract allies to his side. Chad is a largely semi-desert country. Most of its nine million people live in poverty despite the country’s many natural resources such as gold and uranium. Chad has also recently become an oil-producing state.
Sudan has just emerged from two decades of civil war between the mainly Muslim north and the animist and Christian south.
But in its western Darfur region, which borders Chad, fighting erupted in 2003 when rebels demanding greater autonomy began an insurrection. Some 1.5 million people have fled their homes and tens of thousands have been killed.
(AFP/ST)