Chadian army, Arab militias in violent clash in Darfur: report
N’DJAMENA, June 17 (AFP) — Violent clashes in the Chad-Sudan border region, involving Chadian army troops and pro-Khartoum Arab militias, sparked fears the devastating conflict in Sudan’s western Darfur region could widen still further.
“There is a hidden force trying to export the conflict between the Sudanese into Chad,” said Allami Ahmat, diplomatic advisor to Chadian President Idriss Deby.
A Chad military official told AFP that Arab militias, known as Janjawids, fought Chadian troops in Birak, a locality inside Chad about 10 miles (six kilometres) from the border with western Sudan.
The official, who requested anonymity, said 69 Janjawids militiamen were killed and two taken prisoner in the fighting. He did not give figures for any losses among Chadian troops.
Chad has been seeking to mediate in the Darfur crisis, which the United Nations says has created the worst current humanitarian catastrophe in the world.
The conflict began when a rebellion broke out there in February 2003. The Sudanese government and the Janjawids have been accused of responding by carrying out widespread killings and massive human rights abuses which have left at least 10,000 dead and up to a million displaced.
Thousands of those refugees fled over the border into Chad, to where the fighting now appears to be spreading.
The Janjawids have been accused in several reports by the UN and non-governmental organisations of carrying out massive atrocities against non-Arab peoples of Darfur.
A senior Chad official said earlier that the Janjawids were seeking recruits in Chad and that authorities in the country feared that conflict would spill over the frontier.
“Arab tribes in Chad have been caught up in the conflict alongside the Janjawids, who are taking part in punitive raids both in Sudan and in Chad,” presidential advisor Ahmat said.
“We are really concerned about this situation,” said Ahmat, who is also spokesman for the Chad mediating team on Darfur.
Tensions rose sharply last month after Janjawids crossed 25 kilometres (15 miles) into Chad and clashed with army troops.
Deby told the Sudanese government to keep the militias under control and the defence minister warned Chad’s patience “had its limits”.
Deby comes from the Zaghawa tribe, one of the peoples under attack. Zaghawas have been putting pressure on the president to intervene militarily on behalf of their kinsmen across the frontier in Sudan.