Chad’s Deby accuses Sudan of violating Tripoli deal
Mar 24, 2006 (N’DJAMENA) — Chad’s President Idriss Deby called on Libya and the African Union on Friday to press Sudan to respect an agreement to ban insurgents operating in its violent western Darfur region after a string of attacks.
Chad and Sudan accuse each other of backing rebels fighting governments in N’Djamena and Khartoum but agreed at a summit hosted by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in Tripoli in February to stop insurgents setting up bases on their territory.
“We signed an agreement and since it was signed it is certain that the Sudanese government has not respected this agreement. I would even say it has violated certain clauses,” Deby told French radio in an interview broadcast on Friday.
“I appeal to the international community, the African Union mediation, the mediation of (Libyan leader) Gaddafi, to put pressure on the Sudanese government so that it respects the terms of the agreement we signed as quickly as possible.”
Diplomats have said the uneasy relationship between the two countries risks spreading the conflict in Sudan’s Darfur region, which borders Chad, even more widely.
Chad accused Sudan earlier this month of backing a cross-border raid by militia fighters.
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.
Khartoum accuses Chad of supporting the Darfur rebels.
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.
The U.N. Security Council agreed on Thursday to ask Secretary-General Kofi Annan to greatly speed up planning for a new U.N. force in western Darfur to support a poorly equipped and under-funded 7,000-strong African Union peacekeeping force.
(Reuters)