President Deby seeks regional support amid tensions with Sudan

Chadian President Idriss Deby stepped up a diplomatic offensive on Wednesday, calling on fellow African leaders to support Chad against what he called the “subversive plots” of neighbouring Sudan. The Chadian leader made the remarks at a special summit of the six-nation Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC) in the capital, N’djamena, which he convened amid mounting tensions with Sudan, which Deby accuses of deliberately trying to destabilise Chad. “I hope that countries [in the region] will be on our side to fully inform the international community of the gravity of Sudan’s subversive plots against Chad,” Deby said at the opening of the summit. Deby said Sudan’s ravaged Darfur region, since 2003 gripped by violent conflict between rebels on the one side and the Sudanese government and allied militias on the other, should be placed under UN mandate. The Chad government, reeling from a wave of army desertions since October, declared a “state of belligerence” with Sudan after a rebel attack on 18 December in the eastern border town of Adre. Chad blamed the attack on Sudan, saying it is financing, arming and equipping Chadian rebels. Sudan and Chad have long accused one another of backing rebel factions. CEMAC’s secretary general, Jean Nkuete, said at the opening session on Wednesday, “This meeting comes as the question of insecurity in the region is more worrying than ever.” A traditional leader in Adre told IRIN days after the December attack that Chad could soon face the same violence that has engulfed Darfur and forced about 200,000 Sudanese to flee to Chad. “We could see here the same situation as that in Darfur,” said a local official who did not give his name. “The rebels who attacked on 18 December were backed by the janjawid [militia linked to the Sudanese government].” With huge military reinforcements calm has returned to Adre, but other villages in the area have seen incursions in recent weeks that have forced some residents from their homes, local officials told IRIN. Meanwhile, unrest continues to ripple across Chad’s armed forces. In October a group of deserters fled to eastern Chad and formed a new group called the platform for change, national unity and democracy, known by its French acronym, SCUD. Yet another group, the Rally for Democracy and Liberty, is said to have mounted the Adre attack. On 30 December a number of rebel factions - all insisting that Deby step down - announced that they were joining forces. This is a worrying development, says a humanitarian official in Chad. “They are trying to form a unified front. There is strength in numbers. This makes the rebel threat stronger and more real,” the official told IRIN on Wednesday. “It is a volatile situation.” Attending the N’djamena summit were presidents Francois Bozize of Central African Republic (CAR), Denis Sassou Nguesso of Congo-Brazaville and Omar Bongo of Gabon, as well as Prime Minister Miguel Abia Biteo Boriko of Equatorial Guinea. As of Wednesday afternoon no Cameroon representative had arrived in N’djamena. Also present was Lamine Cisse, special representative of the UN secretary general to CAR. The CEMAC meeting was cited as one of the reasons Libya called off a special mini-summit on the Darfur conflict scheduled for the same day. The N’djamena meeting comes three weeks before the next summit of the African Union, set to take place in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum. Deby has called for a change in venue as a protest against Sudan, but Libya’s AU minister Ali Triki told Radio France Internationale on Wednesday that it is likely too late to transfer the summit.