Sudan, Chad normalize bilateral relations
Aug 8, 2006 (N’DJAMENA) — Chad and Sudan on Tuesday decided to “put a definitive end to their differences” and immediately normalise relations, broken off in last April.
Chadian President Idriss Deby and his Sudanese counterpart Omer al-Beshir promised a “solemn commitment to put a definitive end to their differences by immediately normalising diplomatic and economic relations”, according to a statement from the Chadian government after a mini-summit between the two leaders.
The meeting, set up by Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi, took place in N’Djamena on the sidelines of the investiture of Deby, who was reelected on May 3.
“The ministers of foreign affairs of Chad and Sudan will very shortly meet to settle all the details of this normalisation,” the statement said.
The two leaders decided to immediately reopen their common border and respective embassies, a high-ranking Chad official said.
The leaders also said they were committed “to working to reinforce peace between the two countries,” the official said.
Deby nevertheless “insisted on the presence of a neutral force to watch over the two countries’ borders,” he added.
The announcement came after an impromptu mini-summit between Deby, Beshir, Denis Sassou Nguesso, current head of the African Union and president of the Republic of Congo, Gabon’s President Omar Bongo Ondimba and Libyan leader Muammar Kadhafi.
The men met in Kadhafi’s tent after Deby’s swearing-in ceremony. Deby, 54, won a third consecutive presidential mandate in May elections that were dismissed by the opposition as rigged.
Beshir’s presence at the ceremony was only announced early on Tuesday and came despite frosty relations between the two nations.
Deby has accused Sudan of arming rebels who tried to overthrow him while Khartoum has repeatedly alleged that Chad backed Darfur rebel groups fighting the Sudanese government.
Chad said last December it was in a “state of belligerence” with Sudan and broke off diplomatic ties on April 14, accusing Khartoum of supporting Chadian rebels who attacked N’Djamena the previous day.
Relations between Chad and Sudan have been strained since the start of a civil war in the Darfur region of western Sudan in February 2003 which has caused more than 200,000 refugees to flee into Chad.
The two neighbours signed an accord in Chad’s capital N’Djamena on July 26 to normalise ties, agreeing to settle disagreements by diplomatic means and not to use their territory to destabilise the other.
African Union Commission chief Alpha Oumar Konare welcomed Tuesday’s agreement.
“It’s an excellent thing that we have always wished for,” Konare told journalists in Abijan.
“The situation in Darfur is extremely difficult. This situation became more complicated following difficult relations between Chad and Sudan.”
He added: “The Darfur problem cannot be settled without Chad.”
A meeting between the leaders of Chad and Sudan is still to go ahead as planned on Wednesday in Senegal, despite Tuesday’s developments, according to Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade.
Wade announced at the weekend that he would host a mini-summit aimed at tightening ties and bringing “definitive peace” between Chad and Sudan. Chadian officials said earlier that the summit was no longer necessary and that Deby would travel to Dakar at a later date to thank Wade for all his efforts.
Wade, however, said on his return to Senegal Tuesday from Deby’s swearing-in ceremony that both Deby and Beshir would still be flying to Dakar.
“When I left (Chad), the meeting was still on,” he said to journalists as he left the airport.
A presidential source said the talks were expected to start at 1400 GMT but did not give further details.
(ST/AFP)