Chad cuts Sudan ties after attack

[frigidmagi]

BBC

Chad's government has announced it has cut off diplomatic relations with Sudan after repelling a rebel attack on the capital, N'Djamena, on Thursday.
Sudan denies Chad's accusations that it backs the United Force for Change rebels, who were beaten back by Chadian troops after launching a dawn raid.

Chad warns it might expel refugees who fled conflict in Sudan's Darfur region.

On Friday, Chad paraded 160 captives, said to be rebels, in a public square while crowds and soldiers looked on.

"We have taken the decision to break our diplomatic relations with Sudan today and to proceed to close our frontiers," Chadian President Idriss Deby told a rally in N'Djamena.

The Central African Republic has also closed its border with Sudan in protest at what it called Khartoum's "aggression".

The US urged Chad to refrain from violence and advised Americans against travelling to the North African country.

Refugees

Mr Deby warned that the international community had until the end of June to resolve the conflict in Darfur, otherwise they would have "to find another country" to shelter some 200,000 Sudanese refugees in eastern Chad.

He said he had ordered all Sudanese diplomats to leave the country.

Chad accuses Sudan of supporting and arming the attackers while Sudan says Chad backs rebels in Darfur.

CHAD-SUDAN TIMELINE
Early 2003: Sudanese rebels begin attacks in Darfur
Early 2004: Sudan militia begin attacks on Darfur civilians
2004-2005: 1m civilians displaced - some flee to Chad
June 2004: Chad says Sudanese militia on its territory
July 2004: Chad-Sudan agree joint patrols to cut clashes
August 2004: Chad seeks help to feed Darfur refugees
May 2005: 200,000 Darfur refugees now in Chad
Feb 2006: Chad and Sudan agree moves to cut tensions
Feb-April 2006: Chad blames Sudan for rebel attacks
April 2006: Diplomatic relations with Sudan cut by Chad


Behind Chad's rebel alliance

The threat to close its borders and expel the Darfur refugees is designed to focus international attention on Chad's internal conflict and its complex ethnic links with neighbouring Sudan, BBC East Africa correspondent Karen Allen says.

But an influx of refugees back into Darfur would put enormous pressure on relief agencies, who are already struggling to gain access, our correspondent adds.

In the past month the security situation has deteriorated in west Darfur, with the World Food Programme warning that if fighting broke out near the border with Chad the refugees could find themselves stranded.

Clashes and mutual accusations between Chad and Sudan have continued despite an accord that the two countries signed in February, aimed at easing tensions.

Jean-Marc de la Sabliere, the UN envoy from France, which has some 1,350 troops in its former colony, said the Chadian rebels came from Darfur.

Chad, which is rich in oil, has been hit by the conflict in Darfur, with hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing across the border.

The UN Security Council urged Chad and Sudan to resolve differences through talks and not support hostile actions.

Prisoners

Mr Deby's remarks came immediately after Chadian troops displayed prisoners, said to be rebel fighters, in N'Djamena's Place d'Independence.

The BBC's Stephanie Hancock says the parading of prisoners was a carefully choreographed affair, sending a clear message that the rebels had been subdued and the capital was under control.




Chad: Ripe for a coup?
Deby clings to power

During the parade, the interior minister said 300 prisoners had been captured and some 400 killed in total.

Earlier on Friday, Chadian Defence Minister Bichara Issa Djadallah said 150 people on the rebel side had been killed in fighting in the town of Adre, near the Sudanese border.

"All attackers withdrew into Sudan," the minister said in an interview with Radio France Internationale.

The rebels have vowed to overthrow Mr Deby before the polls scheduled for next month, which the opposition is boycotting but which Mr Deby says will go ahead.

A spokesman for the rebels told the BBC they had not been defeated and would attack N'Djamena again.

Reacting to Thursday's attack, UN Security Council "condemned any attempt to seize power by force... and calls on the rebels to put an end to violence and to participate in the democratic process".

The grapvine has told me that the same Arab tribesmen responible for the terror in Darfur are the ones who ran into Chad to stir up this mess. I wonder why BBC hasn't mentioned that?

[Mayabird]

Weren't Chad and Sudan about to go to war with each other a couple months ago? What happened about that? Not that it really matters, since they'll probably be going to war soon anyway.

[frigidmagi]

This is a continuation of the same thing Maya. The same reasons that were driving both groups a few months ago are driving this. They were bothed talked down eariler but Chad is damned annoyed at Sudan's militas and raiders burning and plundering it's people (in africa it's deeply felt by the governments that the only ones allowed to burn and plunder their people is well their government) While Sudan is being pushed by a combination of the greed and insanity of the Arab tribesmen who started the mess in Sudan in the first place, the belief of the government that those ratty animalist/christian rebels couldn't have fought so well against good muslims without outside help and the need to get all those prying eyes out of Sudan.