Chad steps up claims of Sudanese subversion
Dec 30, 2005 (NDJAMENA) — Chad made fresh claims Friday that Khartoum supported Chadian rebels, alleging the insurgents had been given airtime on Sudanese television and that Sudanese nationals were among prisoners taken after a recent rebel raid on a Chadian border town.
“It seems clear that Sudan is arming, financing and equipping Chadian rebels on its territory to destabilise Chad,” Deputy Foreign Minister Lucienne Dillah told parliament in Ndjamena, which then voted to back President Idriss Deby’s efforts to defend the country.
“The presence of Sudanese among the attackers taken prisoner (after the December 18 attack on Adre) is a blatant example,” she added, reading from a memorandum.
“Khartoum warmly welcomed the desertion of some elements of the Chadian army and the defection of some senior officials in December,” she said.
The deputy minister went on to claim that leaders of the rebels who attacked the border town “made several appearances on Sudanese television before satellite channel Al-Jazeera showed the Chadian rebel base on Sudanese soil on December 11.”
The memorandum included photographs showing the leader of the rebel Rally for Democracy and Liberty, Mahamat Nour Abdelkerim, who recently deserted from the Chadian army, posing next to President Omar el-Beshir of Sudan.
After Dillah spoke, lawmakers called on Khartoum not to jeopardize “the historic links” between Sudan and Chad.
After the attack on Adre, Chad declared itself to be in a “state of belligerance” with Chad.
On Tuesday, Deby met the chairman of the African Union, President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, to make a formal protest about Sudan’s “aggression.”
Obasanjo said the AU would set up a commission of enquiry to investigate Chad’s complaints, as well as Sudan’s version of the “differences” between the neighbours.
(AFP/ST)