Egypt’s Mubarak urges resolution of Chadian-Sudanese dispute

Dec 23, 2006 (CAIRO) — Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak Saturday told visiting Chadian Foreign Minister Ahmad Allam-Mithat it was important to resolve the Sudanese-Chadian dispute and to reach a peace settlement in Chad, the official news agency MENA reported.

Allam-Mi, who arrived here on Friday for a visit, conveyed to Mubarak a message from Chadian President Idriss Deby on conditions in Chad, Sudan’s western region of Darfur and Chadian-Sudanese relations, said MENA.

At a press conference after their meeting, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit said that Mubarak’s talks with Allam-Mi covered the Egyptian stance on the Chadian-Sudanese dispute and the outcome of the Tripoli four-way summit on Nov. 21, during which Egypt promised to pursue its efforts to realize stability in the region.

Abul Gheit said there was a noticeable development in Darfur situation referring to the present shift in Khartoum’s mind regarding UN proposals on peacekeeping mission in Darfur.

“We hope that in the next few days things would start to take a move forward and that we would see the beginning of quickened paces towards a Darfur settlement,” Abul Gheit said.

The Sudanese government announced on Thursday that it had agreed on a hybrid peacekeeping operation of the United Nations and the African Union in Darfur instead of the deployment of an independent UN peacekeeping force in the restive region.

For his part, Allam-Mi said conflict was reignited in Chad after the Tripoli four-way talks that involved Egypt, Libya, Sudan and Chad, according to MENA.

This was unexpected because there was an agreement during the summit on disarming the Darfuri refugees and making them retreat 100 km inside Sudanese territory, said Allam-Mi.

But nothing of that happened and now the refugees are hiding in el-Geneina on the borders between Sudan and Chad, Allam-Mi said, adding that he hoped that the refugees would surrender their weapons to the troops in Darfur.

“We just want problems between the two countries to be solved peacefully,” Allam-Mi said. “We harbor no ill feelings against Sudan. The problem just lies in Darfur. It is a nagging problem that has been stirring trouble between the two countries.” He said that Chad has been seeking Mubarak’s help to settle the problem peacefully.

Chad accused Khartoum of hosting rebels and a growing wave of army deserters in order to destabilize Chad, while Sudan charged N’Djamena with supporting rebels in Darfur.

(Xinhua)