Chad’s government on Friday accused pro-government Sudanese militia of carrying out new cross-border raids into the east in ”flagrant violation” of a peace agreement.
”On March 6, members of the Sudanese army known as the Janjaweed attacked the subprefecture of Amdjereme [south-east Chad], taking some 700 camels, a thousand head of cattle and 1 500 head of sheep and other goods belonging to peaceful citizens,” said Communications Minister Hourmadji Moussa Doumgor.
”This latest attack by the Janjaweed is a flagrant violation of the Tripoli peace agreement and the Sudanese government must take responsibility,” said the spokesperson for the Ndjamena goverment.
The declaration assimilated the Janjaweed, local Arabic horseback militias who have targeted communities of black African origin in Darfur since an uprising began there three years ago, with the army, a link Khartoum has frequently denied.
At the end of 2005, Chad’s government accused Sudan of trying to ”destabilise” it with cross-border raids, and declared itself to be in a ”state of belligerence” with Khartoum.
The two countries on February 8 finally signed an agreement aimed at ending their dispute at the end of a mini-summit in Tripoli held under the auspices of the African Union and Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi.
The accord provided for the reestablishment of relations and the opening of consulates, and called for a ban on the use of the territory of either country for hostile activity directed against the other.
Friday’s accusation was is the first since the agreement was signed in which one party has accused the other of breaking it. The charge came at a time when Washington is pressing to have international peacekeepers deployed in Darfur, while European nations are debating the idea, but some have reservations.
On March 6, Doumgor said Chad forces had captured Janjaweed militia and that shots had been fired on both sides.
The latest attack ”saps the efforts of the AU and the Libyan revolutionary leader to find a lasting solution to the conflict between the two countries,” he added.
The Tripoli agreement envisaged the creation of a joint peace force and the establishment of an ”African ministerial committee presided by Libya to oversee the application of the agreement, and the end of hostile press campaigns and of support to armed groups of the two countries”.
In a report published in February, the New-York based Human Rights Watch called for a robust international force to be deployed to protect Chadian villagers from cross-border raids by militias based in Sudan’s Darfur region.
Between 180 000 and 300 000 people have been killed in Darfur and at least 2.4 million displaced since fighting broke out in February 2003 over what the rebels view as marginalisation and oppression of the local black African population. – Sapa-AFP