Sudan ‘exporting’ Darfur crisis to Chad – Deby

Jan 4, 2005 (N’DJAMENA) — Central African leaders met Wednesday in the Chadian capital N’Djamena for a crisis summit over tensions between Chad and Sudan, with Chadian President Idriss Deby again accusing Sudan of “exporting” the Darfur crisis to his country.

“The Khartoum regime is secretively going ahead with the recruitment of mercenaries and other elements to put into action its Machiavellian plan — the destabilization of Chad,” Deby said in opening remarks to the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC) mini-summit.

“These efforts at destabilization, cunningly orchestrated by Sudan, are deliberately designed to export the Darfur conflict to the subregion,” he said.

“Chad has taken measures to face any aggression coming from Sudan.”

Deby has accused the Khartoum regime of supporting Chadian rebels in the east, on the border with the troubled Sudanese region of Darfur, which has been in the throes of a devastating civil war since early 2003.

Several new rebel groups have sprung up recently in eastern Chad, to where about 200,000 refugees from the conflict in Darfur have fled.

Deby’s government declared a “state of war” with Sudan last month following an attack on a border town and has called for the African Union and international community to head off further escalation of the conflict.

Sudan has accused Chad of deploying planes and troops on its territory.

The extraordinary CEMAC mini-summit included heads of state Francois Bozize from the Central African Republic, Denis Sassou Nguesso of the Republic of Congo and Gabonese President Omar Bongo.

Senior envoys from Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea were also attending the day-long meeting.