Chad-Sudan rift nears war

[Wetzelbill]

Chad-Sudan rift nears war

N'djamena/Nairobi (dpa) - Chad's President Idriss Deby will formally sever diplomatic relations with neighbouring Sudan after consultations with his cabinet, a presidential official in the capital N'djamena said Friday.

A formal announcement on Chad's diplomatic relations was expected later Friday after Ndjamena accused Khartoum of supporting a failed rebel coup attempt in Chad Thursday.

Sudan has denied trying to foment unrest in Chad, accusing N'djamena instead of recently refusing a Sudanese envoy permission to enter the country.

"We are not aware that diplomatic relations have been cut, nor have we been formally informed," Lam Akol, Sudanese Foreign Minister told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa from Khartoum.

The two countries have traded tit-for-tat accusations since last December when Chad announced that it was at war with Sudan.

The United States, which has been pressuring the Sudanese government to end the violence in Darfur, which lies on Chad's eastern border, could not confirm a Sudanese role in the uprising, but said it will be closely examining the incident.

"What we can say is that if, in fact, such actions were in any way instigated or provoked or helped by the government of Sudan, that we would, in fact, find that very disturbing," US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in Washington.

Deby overthrew Hissene Habre's dictatorial government in 1991, operating from Sudan's western Darfur region with the assistance of Chad's erstwhile ally and neighbour.

Deby also reportedly threatened to expel about 200,000 Sudanese refugees in eastern Chad by late June, if the international community does not resolve the Darfur crisis, which is partly undermining security in Chad.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/breaking_news/breakingnews.php?id=90900

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