Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir left on Tuesday for the Chadian capital N’djamena to attend the swearing-in of re-elected President Idriss Déby Itno — after three years of strained relations between their two countries.
The two leaders will later leave for Dakar to attend a summit with Senegalese President Abdullay Wade, who has been seeking to mediate between Chad and neighbouring Sudan.
Plans for a ”reconciliatory meeting” originally proposed by Wade had been dropped but ”Wade insisted that the Dakar encounter be held despite the fact that relations between Khartoum and N’djamena have returned to normal and al-Beshir has now been invited by Déby to take part in the re-inaugural ceremony”, Khartoum’s presidential press spokesperson Mahjoub Fadul Bedry told Agence France-Presse.
Relations between Chad and Sudan have been strained since the start of a civil war in the Darfur region of western Sudan in February 2003, which has caused more than 200 000 refugees to flee into Chad.
Déby has accused Sudan of arming rebels who tried to overthrow him while Khartoum has repeatedly alleged that Chad backed Darfur rebel groups fighting the Sudanese government.
The two sides signed an accord in Chad’s capital N’djamena on July 26 to normalise ties, agreeing to settle disagreements by diplomatic means and not to use their territory to destabilise the other. — Sapa-AFP