Sudan warns Chad of a military response over “aggression”

January 1, 2008 (KHARTOUM) — A senior Sudanese official warned Chad that his country stands read to respond militarily over border incursions and aerial bombardment.

“We want the message to be clear to Chad. We want to live in accordance with or religion and values without compromising the rights of our people” Sudan’s defense minister Lt-Gen Abdel-Rahim Mohamed Hussein said at a military parade marking Independence Day celebrations.

Sudan accused Chadian forces last week of attacking inside the Sudanese borders in the western Darfur region using the air force.

But Chad said its ground and air forces had attacked rebel targets along the border, but had not crossed into Sudan.

“We do not want to resort to force which will be direct and deterring. Our army is able to reach any area that threatens the security and sovereignty of the Sudan” Hussein said.

The military parade included Sudan’s domestically developed tanks named “Al-Bashir-1” and “Al-Zebair-1”after the Sudanese president and his late vice president Al-Zebair Moahmed Salih who was killed in an air crash in 1998.

Last September Hussein said that his country has successfully developed unmanned surveillance planes and is now self sufficient in conventional weapons. He also said that missile development project is underway.

(ST)