Chad’s Deby says talks with Sudan mean to improve internal stability

January 1, 2010 (NDJAMENA) — Chad’s President Idriss Deby Itno called on rebels groups to lay down their arms and return home saying he engaged talks with Sudan to promote political stability in his country.

President Deby in a New Year speech today said he is resolved to end war with rebel groups who are based in Sudan. He said wants Chad meaning other thing that “war, aggression, poverty and uncertain future.”

“That is why we deploy so much effort into increasing initiatives to enable us to live in peace within our borders and deal with all our neighbors,” he stressed.

Speaking about the recent breakthrough with Sudan, Deby said “despite the burdens of Darfur crisis, we resumed talks with Sudan.”

Chad and Sudan agreed last month to implement a security deal aiming to monitoring the border and to evacuate the rebel groups far from it. Joint committee will meet next week in Ndjamena to discuss the details of troops’ deployment.

The recent move has been hailed by Washington which had attempted to convince Deby to push Darfur rebels to take part in Darfur peace talks.

The improvement of bilateral talks is seen as crucial to end the six year conflict in Darfur.

Amin Hassan Omer, the head of government negotiating team lastweek welcomed the Chadian participation in the peace talks saying the Doha process aims also to improve relations between the two countries.

He added that the mediation expressed optimism that improved relations between the two countries will reflect positively on the negotiations.

The Chadian Consul in Khartoum said Sudan had evacuated rebels to 400 kilometers from the border adding Ndjamena would ban the activities of the Sudanese rebels inside Chad.

(ST)