Chad backs UN proposal for Sudan border peacekeepers
Nov 30, 2006 (N’DJAMENA) — Chadian President Idriss Deby said on Thursday that he supports a United Nations proposal for a peacekeeping force along the common borders of Chad, Central African Republic and Sudan.
Undersecretary-General for Peacekeeping Jean-Marie Guehenno has proposed some options for a U.N. operation in Chad and the Central African Republic, depending on the assessment of peacekeeping officials on the effect of the Darfur conflict on those countries.
French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin told a news conference after meeting Deby that Chad and the Central African Republic are “threatened,” indirectly referring to the Darfur conflict.
Chad and the Central African Republic are already hosting hundreds of thousands of refugees from Darfur and if the situation in the Sudanese region is not stabilized then the situation may be more grave, Deby said.
“Chad accepts the U.N. proposal to send a peacekeeping force in the sub-region, a U.N. force made up of friendly countries like France to help us stabilize the sub-region … including Sudan,” Deby told journalists.
If the Darfur conflict is not contained, “it will extend to the entire sub-region,” he said.
France will do what it takes to ensure stability in a region where it has colonial ties, Villepin told journalists.
Deby’s beleaguered government is facing renewed attacks from rebels groups in the east. Deby says the rebels are backed by Sudan, a charge Khartoum denies.
Rebels in Central African Republic, which also shares a border with Darfur, also have stepped up attacks in recent months.
French forces were helping the Central African Republic government. French fighter jets bombed two rebel-held towns in Central African Republic on Thursday.
“France has a specific relation vis a vis Chad … We are acting in the framework of a policy of support, of dissuasion. It is in this sense, that we can act as it was at Birao (the Central African Republic town that French jets bombed). The political obligation remains stability in the sub-region,” Villepin said.
Villepin was also scheduled to visit French troops stationed in Chad. France bolstered its military presence in the African nation last weekend with 100 additional troops, a supply plane and a reconnaissance plane. The reinforcement brings the total French troops in Chad, a former French colony, to 1,200.
France’s contingent in Chad is its largest troop presence in central Africa. French troops were protecting aid workers at the airport of the eastern strategic town of Abeche, which was held briefly by rebels on Saturday. The French also provide communication and logistical support to the Chadian army.
Villepin’s visit comes a day after Chad urged the United Nations to remove tens of thousands of refugees from the border with Sudan deeper within Chad, saying that would improve security.
There are 218,000 refugees from Sudan’s Darfur region, which neighbors eastern Chad, and some 90,000 internally displaced Chadians in camps close to the border.
Rebels bent on toppling Deby have clashed sporadically with the government since last year. They have been able to exploit volatility in Sudan to establish rear bases in Darfur.
Besides the rebellion, Chad’s government has in recent weeks reported violence pitting ethnic Arab Chadians against ethnic African Chadians, mirroring ethnic clashes in Darfur. Chad accused Sudan of instigating the clashes, which Sudan has denied.
Rebels in Central African Republic, which also shares a border with Darfur, also have stepped up attacks in recent months. French forces were helping the Central African Republic government. French fighter jets bombed two rebel-held towns in Central African Republic on Thursday.
(AP)