Chad, Egypt leaders discuss Darfur humanitarian corridors

June 11, 2007 (CAIRO) — Chadian President Idriss Deby Itno met his Egyptian counterpart Hosni Mubarak on Monday to discuss a proposal for humanitarian corridors between Chad and Sudan’s troubled Darfur region.

“Mubarak and Deby examined certain proposals concerning the deployment of an international force on the Sudanese-Chadian border, as well as the creation of humanitarian corridors between Chad and Darfur,” Egyptian presidential spokesman Suleiman Awad told a news conference.

The idea of a humanitarian corridor was proposed by French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, who has made the Darfur conflict a priority.

The conflict between rebels in the western region of Darfur and the Sudanese government, backed by Janjaweed militia, has left about 200,000 people dead since 2003, according to the United Nations, and displaced two million more.

About 230,000 Darfuris have sought refuge in Chad. In recent months their number has been swollen by another 160,000 locally displaced people fleeing cross-border violence.

International pressure is mounting on Khartoum to allow the deployment of a UN force to bolster African Union peacekeepers in Darfur.

(AFP)