Chad govt says Sudan army attacks frontier garrison

N’DJAMENA, June 17/ 2008/ (Reuters) 

Chad’s government accused Sudan’s army of attacking a town on their common border on Tuesday after days of raids by rebels whom Chad says are backed by Khartoum.

Rebel columns have rolled through a series of towns since they launched an offensive last week in eastern Chad, where aid workers are struggling to help nearly half a million refugees who have fled violence in Sudan’s Darfur and eastern Chad.

“The Sudanese army itself went into action this morning, June 17, 2008, attacking the Chadian army garrison at Ade with ground troops supported by helicopters,” said a Chad government statement handed to Reuters by Communications Minister Mahamat Hissene.

“The Chadian army’s reaction will be on a level with the impudence of the Sudanese regime,” it said.

Sudan’s government denies supporting Chadian insurgents, and accuses Chadian President Idriss Deby’s administration of supporting rebels fighting Sudanese government forces in Darfur.

Furious at the apparent ease of the rebel advance, Deby has sharply criticised the European Union military force (EUFOR) deployed in eastern Chad, accusing it of “closing its eyes” to killings of civilians and refugees by the insurgents. (Reporting by Moumine Ngarmbassa; writing by Alistair Thomson)

French navy looking to strengthen ties with China against Somalia piracy

HONG KONG (AFP)

17/06/08

The French navy and its Chinese counterpart are discussing ways to strengthen intelligence exchange to combat piracy off the coast of Africa, a senior French naval officer said on Monday.

“We will see if we can do something together, especially in the waters off Somalia, where many Chinese fishing boats travel to,” Vice Admiral Gerard Valin, who is also commander of French joint forces in the Indian Ocean, told AFP.

Valin arrived in Hong Kong on Monday with 200 crew on board the Var, one of the four replenishment and command ships of the French navy which also provides logistics support to overseas warships and planes.

He will meet security chiefs from Hong Kong and mainland China during his stay, with the aim of furthering cooperation between the two sides.

The vessel, which made its maiden voyage to Hong Kong last year, will leave the south Chinese city on Friday for Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia.

Valin said the need to strengthen international exchange of information at sea was a prominent theme in this year’s Shangri-la Dialogue, an annual event held last month in Singapore, where defence ministers convened to discuss security issues for the Asia-Pacific region.

He added that while security around the Malacca Straits had significantly improved over the last decade, pirate attacks off the coasts of Africa remained rampant.

The waters off Somalia — which has not had an effective central government for more than 17 years and is plagued by insecurity — are considered to be among the most dangerous in the world.

The UN Security Council earlier this month unanimously adopted a resolution authorising foreign warships to enter Somali waters with the transitional government’s consent to combat piracy and armed robbery at sea.

Eritrea rules out dialogue with Djibouti over frontier row

NAIROBI (AFP)

17/06/08

Eritrean President Issaias Afeworki has ruled out a dialogue with Djibouti over a frontier dispute behind recent clashes that left nine soldiers dead, an official statement said Tuesday.

In a telephone call with Yemeni President President Ali Abdullah Saleh on Monday, Afeworki said Eritrea would “by no means engage” in any diplomatic activity with its neighbour.

“It has no desire whatsoever to be dragged into the current diplomatic and media tit-for-tat designed to further aggravate the fabricated problem,” the statement said.

Saleh reportedly spoke to Djibouti President Ismail Omar Guelleh and Assaias on Monday and urged both to show restraint after border clashes killed nine Djibouti soldiers.

Saleh urged both leaders to settle their differences “through dialogue and understanding, and to avoid any escalation… harmful to stability, security and peace in the region,” the official Saba news agency said.

The long-running border row between Djibouti and Eritrea over the disputed Ras Doumeira promontory on the shores of the Red Sea flared up last week after previous clashes in 1996 and 1999.

France and the United States both have military bases in Djibouti