Sudan: Armed forces deny Chad rebel charge

(SomaliNet) Sudan\'s armed forces on have denied a charge by Chad that they are helping rebels fighting the government in their neighbour to the west, the independent Al-Sudan newspaper said at the weekend.

\"The army spokesperson completely rejects the allegations by Chad, and says that what is happening in that country is an internal affair,\" the daily said.

It quoted the spokesperson as saying Khartoum wanted a stable Chad because of its influence on Darfur in western Sudan. Civil war there has left more than 200 000 people dead from fighting, famine and disease since 2003.

Another 2.2 million have been displaced by the conflict.
N\'Djamena has protested to Sudan twice recently about what it considers to be aggression by Khartoum in the form of Chadian rebels battling government forces in the east of the country.

The Chad government summoned the Sudanese ambassador on Thursday - the second time in as many days - to protest at help it said Khartoum had given the rebels, a Chadian foreign ministry official said.

Ahmat Allami, Chad\'s foreign minister, called on Sudan to intercept and disarm rebels who have fled into Sudanese territory, the official said.

On Wednesday Allami summoned Sudan\'s envoy \"to deliver a strong protest on the unfriendly attitude of Khartoum, which armed and equipped the rebels\", a foreign ministry official said.

The next day Prime Minister Nourradine Delwa Kassire Coumakoye accused Sudan of \"aggression\" with the aim of \"destabilising\" his country.

Recent clashes in eastern Chad between government forces and rebels of the Union of Forces for Democracy and Development (UFDD) erupted despite a truce they signed in Sirte, Libya, on October 25.

The latest fighting comes as the European Union is due to start deploying up to 4 000 troops to Chad and the Central African Republic to help deal with the refugee crisis stemming from Sudan\'s war-ravaged Darfur region over their eastern border. - Sapa-AFP