Chad’s Deby hails Sudan’s disarmament campaign: minister
December 2, 2017 (KHARTOUM) – Chad’s President Idriss Deby has praised Sudan’s disarmament campaign stressing his government’s support for the move, said Sudan’s State Foreign Minister Atta al-Mannan Bakhit
According to the official news agency SUNA, Bakhit said President Deby has mentioned his country’s experience in collecting illicit weapons, saying it led to reaching full peace across the Chadian regions.
He added that Chad is ready to present its experience so that Sudan could benefit from it during the disarmament campaign.
Last August, the Sudanese government launched a six-month disarmament campaign to eliminate illegal weapons in the conflict-affected areas in Sudan, particularly in Darfur region.
The Sudanese authorities say the spread of weapons among the rival tribes in the region is one of the main causes of Darfur’s instability.
JOINT BORDER FORCE
Bakhit pointed out that President Omer al-Bashir and President Deby have discussed the experience of the joint border force and its role in achieving security and stability along the joint borders.
Al-Bashir has arrived in the Chadian capital on Friday morning on a two-day official visit to attend Chad’s National Day celebrations.
Bakhit added that Libya and the Central African Republic (CAR) have expressed a desire to launch similar joint forces to protect the common borders, saying the two leaders called to contact the two countries within the bilateral relations to discuss the issue.
In January 2010, Sudan and Chad signed a normalization agreement ending a long history of mutual hostility in which both sides provided support to each other’s insurgents.
A joint Sudanese-Chadian border force has been deployed along the joint border in 2010 in line with a deal to stop support to rebel groups and cross-border attacks.
Earlier this year, the two countries announced their intention to expand the deployment of the joint force to include counter-terrorism and disarmament.
Also, incursions by Sudanese and Chadian from Libya should push the two countries to consider the redeployment of a joint in the triangle border area.
(ST)