NDJAMENA, 8 May 2004 — Chadian President Idriss Deby has demanded that Sudan’s government halt attacks against Chad by pro-government Arab militia forces from the violence-wracked Darfur province.
“Sudan, which is a friend and brother of Chad, must take all steps to control this militia which is attacking Chad,” Deby said in a statement broadcast on Thursday night by the national radio.
The Arab Janjawid militia have been accused in hard-hitting reports this week of carrying out “ethnic cleansing” and atrocities against the black African population of the western Darfur region.
A Chadian mediator in the Darfur conflict, which has claimed at least 10,000 lives, stressed Friday that cross-border raids and clashes would not put a end to Ndjamena’s efforts to mediate a settlement in the fighting.
“Incidents at the border between the Chadian army and the Janjawid militia can be allowed neither to undermine nor discourage mediators from pursuing their mission,” said Allami Ahmat, who is also a diplomatic adviser to Deby.
The UN Security Council was due Friday to be briefed on the situation in Darfur by World Food Program executive director James Morris, who last month led a UN team to three provinces in Darfur. A report on the human rights situation in the region, compiled by another UN team, was also expected.
The conflict in Darfur has uprooted a million people from their homes, according to UN figures, and driven more than 100,000 to seek shelter across the Chadian border since it broke out in February 2003.
The conflict pits the Janjawid and Sudanese government troops against two rebel groups — the Justice and Equality Movement and the Sudan Liberation Army Movement.
Chad brokered a ceasefire for the region on April 8, but several violations have since been reported.
Last week, the mediation team accused the Janjawid of attacking the Chadian side of the border town of Kulbus, killing one civilian. That attack was “all the more unacceptable because the Sudanese army tolerates and offers land and air backup to the Janjawid militias,” Allat said.
“We can confirm that the Janjawid militia is still very active and has not been disarmed,” said Ahmat, backing accusations by Darfur rebels that Khartoum had breached the April 8 truce.
The Ndjamena government said on Wednesday that Janjawid militiamen attacked a village 25 km across the Sudanese border into eastern Chad, prompting a riposte from the Chadian army.
“We have responsibilities to our people,” Deby said. “If it’s a matter of protecting them, we shall do so.
“Alongside the efforts we’re making to help the Sudanese to reconcile themselves, it is regrettable to see aggression inside Chad by a heavily armed and well organized militia,” the president added.
Chad’s government has released no official figures concerning Wednesday’s skirmish, but an army officer who asked not to be named said that six civilians and an army officer were killed, and several Chadian soldiers wounded.
On Thursday, the Foreign Ministry in Ndjamena summoned the Sudanese ambassador to lodge an official protest against “frequent and repeated incursions by the Janjawid militia on Chadian territory.”
