Libyan leader Moammar Gadaffi sent an envoy to Sudan and Chad on Wednesday for talks aimed at easing tensions between the two countries after deadly border clashes.
Abdel Salem Triki, number two in the Foreign Ministry in charge of African affairs, said he would deliver letters from Gadaffi calling on the leaders of the two countries to ”return to peace and dialogue”.
After his arrival in the Chadian capital on Wednesday where he was due to meet President Idriss Déby Itno, the envoy was to travel to Khartoum to see Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir.
The visit comes two days after violent clashes between Chad and Sudanese forces across the increasingly volatile border between the two countries.
Chad says it was chasing rebels, but Sudan says 17 of its soldiers were killed in the fighting. Chadian officials said 30 were killed on both sides.
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.
”Relations between the two countries have their ups and downs,” a Western diplomat in Ndjamena said, adding, however, that he believes it impossible for ties to reach ”a point of total breakdown”.
Another diplomat commented that ”the proximity is too strong; they cannot completely burn bridges”, adding that ”Chad seems to want to deflate the incident”.
Sudanese Foreign Minister Lam Akol said late on Tuesday after talks with South African President Thabo Mbeki that Sudan is determined to a seek a peaceful solution to the deadly violence that has erupted with Chad. — Sapa-AFP