CHRONOLOGY-Tensions between Sudan and Chad

May 12 (Reuters) 

Sudan has accused neighbouring Chad of backing rebels who attacked the capital Khartoum at the weekend and has cut diplomatic relations.

Here is a chronology of recent Chad-Sudan tensions:

Jan/Feb 2004 – Thousands of refugees from Sudan’s Darfur region arrive in Chad fleeing government bombings and raids by Arab Janjaweed militias.

April 9 – Chad brokers a ceasefire between the Sudanese government and two Darfur rebel groups.

April 11, 2005 – Chad suspends mediation, accusing Sudan of supporting Chadian rebels. It returns to mediation after promises from Khartoum that it would act against the rebels.

Dec. 18 – Chad says its forces killed about 300 rebels after they launched a failed offensive on the border town of Adre. Sudan denies involvement.

Feb 8, 2006 – Chad and Sudan agree to put an end to their dispute at a meeting in Libya.

April 13 – Chad government forces fight off attack by rebels on the capital N’Djamena. Several hundred people killed. Deby breaks diplomatic relations with Sudan the next day.

Aug 8 – Chadian President Idriss Deby and Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir agree to restore ties.

Feb 1, 2007 – Rebels fighting to overthrow Deby launch an attack on Adre, before being beaten back.

Feb 22 – At a conference in Libya, leaders of Sudan and Chad pledge to redouble efforts to end border violence.

May 3 – Sudan and Chad sign a Saudi-brokered reconciliation deal in Riyadh.

Oct 25 – Chad and four Sudan-based Chadian rebel groups sign a “definitive peace accord” in Libya. At least two groups later abandoned the accord.

Feb 3, 2008 – Deby beats back rebels who got as far as the presidential palace in an attempt to oust him. Former colonial power France rallies behind Deby.

March 13 – Sudanese and Chadian leaders sign non-aggression deal in Senegal however Chadian rebels dismiss the peace pact the next day.

May 10 – Rebels make a lightning advance from the western Darfur region to attack Khartoum. About 65 people are believed to have been killed in the attacks.

May 11 – Sudan accuses Chad of backing the rebels and cuts diplomatic relations. Chad denies involvement.

Darfur rebel leader vows more attacks on Khartoum

By Opheera McDoom

12/05/08

KHARTOUM (Reuters) – Darfur rebel leader Khalil Ibrahim said on Monday he would launch more attacks on Sudan’s capital Khartoum until the government fell.

“This is just the start of a process and the end is the termination of this regime,” Ibrahim, whose Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) attacked Khartoum at the weekend, said in a satellite phone call. “Don’t expect just one more attack.”

Ibrahim said he was speaking from Omdurman, the western Khartoum suburb where the attack occurred — just across the Nile river from the heart of the capital.

But there was no independent verification of Ibrahim’s whereabouts. Omdurman was quiet overnight and government officials have said the last rebels fled the area on Sunday.

Security forces cordoned off an area of Khartoum central near the stadium on Monday chasing a small group of suspected rebel insiders into a building, witnesses said. “There gun fire but it’s one way. There’s no exchange of fire,” said one witness who was at the scene.

The weekend attack was the first time fighting had reached the capital in decades of conflict between the traditionally Arab-dominated central government and rebels from far-flung regions in the oil-producing nation — Africa’s biggest country.

Sudan said neighboring Chad was backing the rebels.

President Omar Hassan al-Bashir’s government arrested Islamist opposition leader Hassan al-Turabi and at least four other top members of his party on Monday, aides said.  Continued…

Sudan arrests opposition leader, pursues rebels

 

KHARTOUM (AFP)

12/05/08

Sudan on Monday arrested Islamist opposition leader Hassan al-Turabi and pressed its pursuit of Darfur rebels who threatened again to attack the capital as sporadic gunfire rang out across Khartoum.

Two days after Darfur rebels attacked the capital’s twin city of Omdurman, witnesses said gunfire could be heard in Khartoum around the US embassy as government forces continued to pursue Darfur rebels believed to be hiding.

Associates of prominent opposition leader Hassan al-Turabi said he and at least four members of his Popular Congress party were rounded up on Monday.

“We know they have also detained Hassan al-Turabi and at least three other senior members of the party. There could be more,” Israa Mohammed al-Beshir, the wife of one of the party members arrested, told AFP.

“Security forces gave no reasons for the arrest but some are saying that they were involved in what happened in Khartoum,” she said.

The arrests come two days after an attack on the capital by Darfur rebel group the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), the first time regional rebels have ever brought decades of violence so close to the seat of Sudanese power.

The most powerful rebel group fighting government forces in Darfur, the JEM shares the Islamist ideology of Turabi, although both he and the rebels have always denied any links with each other.

A friend-turned-foe of President Omar al-Beshir, Turabi last spent more than a year in detention after an alleged coup plot until he was freed in June 2005.

On Monday, witnesses said gunfire could be heard in central Khartoum not far from the main US embassy compound where many staff were still working from home owing to security precautions after the rebel attack on Saturday.

Although the shooting quickly subsided, the United Nations restricted the movement of its personnel working in one nearby agency office as a precaution.

A resident of Omdurman, Saddiq Babo Nimir, told AFP that shooting flared as he ventured out of his home near one of the bridges over the Nile.

“Right now there is shooting in the street. It is near the new bridge, all the people are running in the streets. The main road is closed and full of soldiers,” he told AFP.

The security services were firing at rebel remnants holed up in residential buildings and a curfew remained in force in Omdurman and shops closed.

“When they were defeated, they (the rebels) started going from one place to another in Omdurman. The security services are still trying to pursue them,” an official at the foreign ministry, Ali Yousif, told AFP.

Sudanese security services have arrested more than 300 Sudanese and Chadians following Saturday’s attack, he said.

The deputy chief of JEM’s staff told AFP that the movement had decided to abandon the fight in Darfur and take the battle to the capital.

“Now I am in Omdurman. We finished our target and just now I have troops there in Omdurman, divisions and so forth. I am re-arranging my troops and gathering them,” Suleiman Sandal told AFP.

“After that, if the government does not solve our problems — does not give our rights — we will arrange ourselves to attack Khartoum so as to attack the republican palace,” he said referring to the president’s residence.

“We will no longer fight in Darfur and the desert, we will fight in Khartoum,” he said.

Saturday’s attack, which saw rebel fighters in the streets of Omdurman, led Sudan to sever diplomatic ties with Chad , which it accused of backing the rebel assault.

Chad said it regretted Khartoum’s decision, denied any involvement in the attack and condemned a raid on the Chadian embassy.

The official SUNA news agency said the Sudanese military had killed a leading JEM commander and had chased down, fought and wiped out a 45-man rebel force 50 kilometres (30 miles) from Omdurman.

A senior official in the military command told the state SUNA news agency that 250 million pounds (123 million dollars) would be paid to anyone who captures JEM leader Khalil Ibrahim or provides information on his whereabouts.

Sudan’s foreign ministry said it had evidence of communication between the rebels, the Chad government and the Chadian embassy in Khartoum.