N’DJAMENA/KHARTOUM, 12 April 2007 — Chad’s President Idriss Deby Itno yesterday vowed to improve ties with Khartoum after serious border clashes as his Sudanese counterpart said he hoped external mediation would end the crisis. “I am happy that President Deby assured me he would stick to the Tripoli accord,” Libyan mediator Abdel Salem Triki, the No. 2 in the Foreign Ministry in charge of African affairs, told reporters after meeting Deby.
“Chad is committed to improving and normalizing relations with Sudan,” said Triki, who had been dispatched by Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi to try to get the neighbors to mend fences after the latest upsurge in violence. Triki’s visit comes two days after deadly clashes between forces of the two oil-rich countries across their increasingly volatile border.
Sudan said 17 of its soldiers were killed in the fighting. Chadian officials said 30 were killed on both sides after its forces pursued rebels across the border and ran into regular Sudanese troops.
Sudanese President Omar Bashir said in Khartoum he was counting on South African mediation to help contain tensions with Chad. Bashir, speaking after talks with South African President Thabo Mbeki who often plays a peacemaking role, said Mbeki was in touch with Chadian officials to help build bridges. “God willing, these contacts will yield positive results,” the Sudanese leader said.
The Libyan government has tried to mediate between the two countries in recent months by posting Libyan monitors on the border and calling on both Chad and Sudan to respect agreements signed in Tripoli in 2006. But the two countries routinely trade accusations, with Chad complaining that the Sudanese-backed Janjaweed militia raids villages near the border and Sudan accusing Chad of violating international agreements and backing anti-government rebels.
Foreign Minister Lam Akol said Khartoum was “firmly committed to finding a peaceful solution to this problem,” after talks with South African leader Mbeki. Some observers, however, voiced fears that the latest fighting could take tensions to a new high.
An analyst said that the two nations had been fighting a proxy war with each other by backing cross-border rebels but “now we are starting to fear a direct confrontation between the two.”
He underlined that Chad was using its newly found oil wealth to acquire an armory of sophisticated weapons. Mbeki and Akol “examined what needs to be done to improve relations between Sudan and Chad in the aftermath of the recent events,” said the Sudanese foreign minister.
