Presidents to thrash out peace plan in Dakar

Heads of state from Chad and Sudan are expected to meet in the Senegal capital Dakar on Wednesday at a summit meant to patch up tattered relations between the two neighbours. Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and Chadian President Idriss Deby have accused each other of supporting rebel movements in their countries. Chad broke diplomatic relations with Sudan on 15 April, one day after anti-government rebels allegedly based in Sudan and Central African Republic launched a deadly attack on the Chadian capital N’djamena. Sudan has denied Chad’s claims that it supports the rebels in its territory and said Chad is sponsoring rebel groups aligned with Deby’s ethnic group, the Zaghawa, which have been fighting the Sudanese army. On 26 July Chad and Sudan signed an agreement in N’djamena aimed at normalising relations. Senegal’s President Abdoulaye Wade was subsequently charged with the mission of mediating a full peace accord by the African Union. Speaking to reporters in the Sudanese capital Khartoum at the weekend, Wade said he was hopeful of reaching an agreement on Wednesday. “I hope that the Dakar Accord will establish definitively peace between Chad and Sudan and also in the region,” he said, adding, “I think that we can get there”. nr/ss