Libya urges Sudan, Chad to settle their differences

June 1, 2006 (TRIPOLI) — Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi on Thursday urged Sudan and Chad to settle their differences in the name of African unity as he opened a summit of African leaders in Tripoli.

<“The conflict between Sudan and Chad serves only the enemies of Africa,” Gadhafi said at the opening of the two-day summit of Community of Sahel-Saharan states (CEN-SAD).

Eleven heads of state, among them Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Sudan’s Omar al-Beshir, are attending. One notable absentee is Chad’s Idriss Deby, although his country is represented at prime ministerial level, as are Morocco and Tunisia.

“Relations between Chad and Sudan must return to normal,” Gadhafi said.

If the conflict between the two countries continues, “that would open the way for intervention by troops of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation,” he said.

Chad has accused Sudan of supporting Chadian rebels.

“We must send observers to Darfur and the Sudan-Chad frontier,” Gadhafi added.

Since the three-year civil war in the Darfur western region of Sudan, during which more than 200,000 refugees have crossed the border into Chad, relations have been tense between N’Djamena and Khartoum.

Chad abandoned its mediating role in Sudanese peace talks last April after breaking off diplomatic ties with Sudan over the charges of aiding rebels who had mounted an offensive on the Chadian capital.

Sudan and Chad signed an accord in Tripoli last February banning the two countries from supporting each other’s rebels.

The summit’s agenda said the delegates will also focus on Darfur, following the signing of the Abuja peace accord.

“Discussions will centre mainly on “Darfur, the Ivory Coast, tension between Sudan and Chad, and the situation in Somalia,” said CEN-SAD president Madani al-Azhari of Libya.

Chad’s Foreign Minister Ahmat Allami on Wednesday urged fellow African states to exert pressure on Sudan over its alleged support for Chadian rebels.

The Sudanese minister of state for foreign affairs, Al-Sammani al-Wassila, denied the charges of Sudanese interference in Chad, saying Khartoum was “ready to resolve this dispute”.

Gadhafi also criticised the arrest of former Liberian president Charles Taylor.

He said the fact that Taylor had been sent for trial at an international tribunal “made him lose credibility in Africa and in Nigeria”, where the ex-president spent more than two years in exile.

“Taylor sacrificed himself for his country,” Gadhafi said. “He renounced power so peace could return to the country. If Taylor has to be judged, then let it be in Liberia.”

Taylor stands accused by the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone of crimes against humanity and war crimes, for having supported the rebellion in Liberia’s neighbour.

Some 120,000 people were killed in the 10-year Sierra Leone civil war, which began in 1991.

The Libyan leader also said that to put former Chad’s former leader Hissene Habre, now exiled in Senegal, before an international tribunal would be “an offence against every African president”.

CEN-SAD was formed in 1998 to promote regional economic integration, and has its headquarters in Tripoli.

The 23-member grouping represents 43 percent of the African population — some 350 million people.

(ST)