Chad, Sudan discuss joint border patrols

June 24, 2008 (DAKAR) – Military experts from feuding neighbours Chad and Sudan met on Tuesday to discuss how to patrol their 1500 km long common border zone.

According to a non-aggression pact signed in the Senegalese capital, on the sidelined of the Islamic Conference summit on March 13, the two countries agreed to deploy a monitoring force to ensure stability on the joint border and to establish a contact group composed of Congo, Eritrea, Gabon, Libya and Senegal.

General David Ngomine Beadimadji led a team of Chadian military experts, while Sudanese General Ibrahim Ezzedin led his country’s delegation. Negotiations began on Tuesday, a day late due to the late arrival of the Sudanese.

“Chad will supply its own soldiers to patrol its own border, Sudan will supply its own soldiers to patrol its own border, and the peace and security force will become a mechanism for observing the two countries,” Senegalese Foreign Minister Cheikh Tidiane Gadio told reporters at an opening ceremony on Monday.

Senegal and Libya, both members of a “contact group” following implementation of the Dakar peace deal, had identified 10 sites suitable for border surveillance posts, he said.

“With aerial surveillance, and if we have the means for satellite surveillance — maybe with the help of our Western friends — perhaps we can start identifying the troop movements, identify who is coming and what they are doing,” Gadio said.

Under the Dakar deal, Chad and Sudan promised to stop all armed and organized activities and banned actions threatening each other’s national security.

The peace deal also stipulates that a multinational peace and security force involving troops from the contact group nations andthe African Union be formed to secure and monitor security in the common border zone.

Representatives of France, United States, Great Britain and the United Nations attended the opening ceremony.

(ST)

Some material for this news report is provided by Reuters