Chad, Sudan to restore diplomatic relations

July 10, 2006 (N’DJAMENA) — The foreign minister of the African state of Chad arrived to Khartoum Monday on what was described as a mission to sound out the possibility of resuming relations with its estranged neighbour Sudan.

Ahmat Allami took with him a message from his president, Idriss Deby Itno, to the Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir, said diplomats in the Chad capital N’Djamena.

In Khartoum ,the Chadian minister said the visit comes within the context of what has been agreed upon during the African Union Summit conference which took place in the Gambian capital of Banjul when the two leaders met at the initiative of the Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi.

Allami said the two sides have agreed to form a joint committee that would settle issues of differences between Sudan and Chad.

Chad has accused Sudan of supporting Chadian rebels against the Deby regime.

“The visit is a sounding-out mission with the aim of perhaps resuming diplomatic relations between Chad and Sudan,” said a member of the Chad delegation.

Since the start of civil war in the Darfur region of western Sudan, during which more than 200,000 refugees have crossed the border into Chad, the situation has been tense between Chad and the Sudan government in Khartoum.

The mission led by Allami is the first by such a high-ranking Chad official since the Chad president in April announced he was breaking off diplomatic relations with the Khartoum government following the failure of an offensive against N’Djamena by a Chad rebel group opposing his regime.

The two neighbours have exchanged accusations that the other is harbouring rebel movements.

The Khartoum government suspects Chad of supporting groups that their troops have been fighting in Darfur while Chad accuses the Sudan government of supporting armed groups seeking to overthrow President Deby.

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

But the agreement collapsed after the April offensive by the anti-Deby rebels against N’Djamena.

Last month Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi 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,” Kadhafi said at a summit of the Community of Sahel-Saharan states (CEN-SAD).

(ST)