OIC regrets tension between Chad and Sudan

April 15, 2006 (RIYADH) — The Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) on Saturday expressed regret over the recent unrest in Chad, which led to severing of diplomatic relations between that country and neighboring Sudan.

OIC’s Secretary-General Akmaluddine Ihsan Oglu had called on all parties, in a statement he issued, to “deal with wisdom and restraint with the developments.” He said he has been in contacts with officials on both sides to cool tempers and ease tension.

He added that the OIC had sent delegations to both sides and urged them to restore good relations on both sides of their common border.

he said they entailed dangerous regional repercussions such as the suspension of diplomatic ties between Sudan and Chad, both of them members of the OIC, border closure and the threat to expel refugees which warns of further deterioration of the critical human situation.

Chad had threatened to close the common border and deport some 200,000 Sudanese refugees living on its soil, ever since the Darfur crisis broke out.

The OIC exerted efforts when tension flared up between Sudan and Chad last December. An OIC good will delegation visited N’djamena and Khartoum and exhorted both conflicting countries to promote good neighborhood relations.

Chad’s president Idriss Deby yesterday broke diplomatic ties with neighbour Sudan, which he accused of trying to topple him, and warned that his country could stop sheltering thousands of Sudanese refugees.

Deby again accused the Sudanese government of backing rebels who have carried out attacks across Chad and portrayed his landlocked country as a victim of the political and ethnic conflict in Sudan’s Darfur region, which has driven more than 200,000 refugees over the border.

(ST)