afrol News, 18 July - Sudan has finally agreed to mend its soured relations with neigbours Chad, country's mediator, Senegalese president Abdoulaye Wade, confirmed today.

Oil-producing neighbours Chad and Sudan which has been in conflict for over 5 years, accused each other of supporting insurgent groups on attacks, their ties were cut in May this year following an attack in Sudan's capital Khartoum, which was the closest rebels could have gone towards toppling the Sudanese government.

Sudan's attempt to mend relations with Chad was rejected by Chadian President Idriss Déby saying Sudanese president Omar Hassan al-Bashir breaks his commitments in ensuring peace between the two countries.

An attack called for the arrest of 39 suspects who were put on three specialised courts established to try them in Khartoum, the cases which are likely to carry the death penalty.

Senegalese government yesterday announced the move following a meeting in Senegal capital Dakar between Sudanese and Chadian foreign ministers and African Union guarantors.

Senegalese president Abdoulaye Wade said Mr al Bashir has accepted diplomatic relations restoration with his neighbour Chad.

Mr Wade also said yesterday that US President George W. Bush warned African leaders at one stage that he would send US troops to Darfur if they did not act to halt what Washington saw as genocide.

Senegal brokered a peace deal between the two governments at an Organisation of the Islamic Conference summit, which it hosted in June, though a deal did little to smooth tense relations between two countries.

The group facilitating peace negotiations met on Thursday following an implementation of peace deal in spite of repeated clashes on both sides of the border.

A group further discussed plans to deploy a peace and security force on the Chad-Sudan border, saying its technical experts would meet in the second half of August to discuss the logistics and mandate of the force of the force on the border.

A joint U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force has had repeated problems deploying in Darfur to take over from a purely African Union force, while the European Union has around 3,000 troops protecting refugees and aid workers in eastern Chad.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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