Chad accuses Sudan of backing new cross-border raid

Mar 8, 2006 (NDJAMENA) — Chad accused Sudan on Wednesday of backing a cross-border raid by militia fighters this week, the first such attack since the two countries agreed to ban insurgents from setting up bases on their territory.

Both countries accuse each other of backing rebels fighting governments in N’Djamena and Khartoum. Diplomats have said the uneasy relationship risks spreading the conflict in Sudan’s Darfur region, which borders Chad, even more widely.

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, who has good relations with both countries, hosted a summit in Tripoli early last month in a bid to ease tensions.

The two nations’ presidents agreed to ban rebels from establishing bases, although the border area is remote and largely unsupervised.

“This new attack … constitutes a flagrant violation of the agreement reached in Tripoli and is the responsibility of the Sudanese government,” Chad’s government said in a statement.

It said 2,500 heads of livestock and 700 camels were stolen in Monday’s attack, during which there were exchanges of fire. It did not say whether anyone had been killed.

Human Rights Watch said last month that Chadian farmers were being beaten, harassed and killed in cross-border raids that were sometimes supported by Sudanese army helicopters, citing interviews with Chadians who had fled their homes.

Sudan denies the charges.

In the Darfur region, feared Arab militia known as Janjaweed have conducted a campaign of rape, killing and looting which the United States has called genocide.

The conflict has spilled over into Chad, with Chadian refugees from along the long and porous border area swelling camps already overcrowded with civilians from Darfur.

Western powers are seeking to persuade Sudan to agree to an African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur being turned into a more robust United Nations mission to stop the killing.

(Reuters)