Sudan accuses Chad of attacking Darfur positions

Oct 18, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — The Sudanese army has accused Chad of backing rebels in the western region of Darfur by launching air raids at Sudan’s army positions near the borders, local daily al-Sahafa reported on Wednesday.

“Chad is trying to cover the movements of the rebels by means of planes,” a hign-ranking army officer was quoted as saying, without mentioning his name.

Refraining from describing Chad’s military involvement in Darfur as a war between the two neighboring countries, the officer said that the Sudanese army engaged in the recent fightings ” against a country rather than armed groups”.

He denied the recent remarks by Jan Pronk, special representative of the UN secretary general in Sudan, that the Sudanese army had suffered “big casualties” in recent fightings in Darfur, saying the remarks “were not totally right”.

The top UN envoy in Sudan wrote in his personal weblog on Saturday that the Sudanese army had lost two major battles, one in Umm Sidir last month and the other in Karakaya last week.

(Xinhua)