Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Dakar (Agenzia Fides) - A day behind schedule, the Presidents of Chad and Sudan signed a non-aggression treaty placing an end to the tensions that have plagued relations between the two countries for five years.
The agreement was signed on March 13, by the President of Chad, Idriss Deby and Sudan’s President Omar El-Bechir, in Dakar (Senegal), on the occasion of the opening of the summit of the Organization of Islamic Conference, under the auspices of Senegalese president Abdoulaye Wade; the President of Gabon and leader of the central African heads of state, Omar Bongo; and UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon. The two countries, according to paragraph 4 of the settlement, agree to “commit ourselves solely to the eradication of all armed-group activities and to preventing either of our territories from becoming a detrimental instrument in the stability of the other.”
The other points in the treaty called for: a commitment to normalizing relations between the two countries; respect for previously signed agreements (Tripoli Agreement of February 8, 2006, Canes Declaration of February 15, 2007, and the Ryad Agreement of May 3, 2007); a petition made to the international community and in particular to Libya, Democratic Republic of Congo, Senegal, Gabon, Eritrea, CEEAC (Economic Community of Central African States), and the African Union for guaranteeing the agreements through a peace enforcement that would offer security on the border between the two countries; the creation of a Contact Group formed by the countries committed to the treaty’s enforcement, that would meet once a month. This organization would be under the leadership of Libya or the DRC.
According to a representative from the Senegalese government, the new accord completes those that have preceded it, as it offers the verification and guarantee mechanisms that had been lacking in previous settlements.
The signing of this accord in Dakar was initially scheduled to take place on March 12, however the President of Sudan did not arrive in the Senegalese capital, provoking uncertainty on the part of international observers. In addition, unconfirmed news had been filtering in from Chad, claiming that there was a rebel brigade en route from the Sudan border to the capital city of N’Djamena, where allied groups supported by Sudan had made an intent to take over in February (see Fides 4/2/2008).
The Chad crisis has been the focus of the extraordinary summit of the African heads of state and the CEEAC that took place in Kinshasa, in the DRC (see Fides 10/3/2008). At the close of the session, a document was released condemning “the recourse to arms and other anti-constitutional methods as means to acquiring power.” The country-members of the CEEAC, also promised to send Chad emergency aid in efforts to collaborate in the country’s reconstruction and expressed their support for the deployment of EUROFOR troops, who will be sent in to protect the refugee camps in eastern Chad and in the Central African Republic.
The crisis between Chad and Sudan is also linked to that of Darfur. With this in mind, the international community has declared that it will make efforts to deploy a peace-keeping mission of 26,000 African Union/UN troops. According to a recent study from the International Crisis Group (see “Today on the Internet,” March 14), attention needs to be given to the south of Sudan, where peace agreements made in 2005 are currently in jeopardy. (LM) (Agenzia Fides 14/3/2008; righe 45, parole 557)
