Foreign Minister to Asmara for Sudan-Chad group meeting
September 10, 2008 (KHARTOUM) — Foreign minister, Deng Alor, will lead Sudanese delegation to attend a meeting of contact group charged with the implementation of Dakar agreement between Khartoum and Ndjamena.
The members of the contact group: Congo-Brazzaville, Eritrea, Gabon, Libya and Senegal plus Sudan and Chad are scheduled to meet in Asmara on September 12. The meeting was initially planned to take place on August 26.
The Ministerial meeting will discuss the normalization of bilateral relations between Sudan and Chad, the deployment of joint patrols to monitor the joint border, and the convening a summit of heads of State of the group to seal Sudan Chad reconciliation.
The meeting of Dakar group was delayed in order to allow the Eritrean foreign minister to prepare the ground for further commitment from Chad and Sudan in junction with the Libyan initiative.
Sudan and Chad agreed on August 1 to restore relations and pledged to reopen mission in the two capitals.
On March 13, Sudan and Chad signed Dakar Agreement, deal brokered by Senegal’s President Abdoulaye Wade. However, Sudan following a rebel attack on the capital Khartoum on May 10 severed relations with N’Djamena and accused it of supporting the raid.
The meeting of Contact Group’s Technical Committee on Sudan-Chadian opened Wednesday in Asmara. The Eritrean Foreign Minister, Osman Saleh, said that the meeting is taking place on the basis of the implementation of the Dakar Agreement.
Osman further expressed the Eritrea’s desire to see an end to the issue of deploying an observer peace and security mission along the Sudanese-Chadian border. He also stressed the need for ensuring lasting political solution between the two sisterly countries.
(ST)