KHARTOUM (Agencies)
Chad and Sudan have agreed to normalize bilateral relations and return ambassadors in two weeks, paving the way to a full restoration of diplomatic ties following rebel attacks, official media said on Friday.
"Sudan and Chad have agreed on the return of their ambassadors to Khartoum and N'djamena within two weeks," Sudan's state news agency SUNA reported.
Sudanese and Chadian media said the agreement was reached at a meeting in the Libyan capital Tripoli on Thursday between Chadian Foreign Minister Moussa Fekki and Sudanese presidential advisor Mustafa Osman Ismail.
Fekki said that follow-up meetings would be held in N'djamena on November 15 and in Tripoli November 19-20, which would also discuss ways Chad and Libya can help resolve problems in Sudan's western region of Darfur, SUNA reported.
The envoys agreed not to assist rebels in either Chad or Sudan -- where allegations of cross-border support for armed opponents of regimes in N'djamena and Khartoum have been at the heart of their diplomatic dispute.
Sudan broke off diplomatic relations with Chad in May, accusing N'djamena of sponsoring an unprecedented assault by Darfur rebel group, the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), on the capital Khartoum.
Chad denied any involvement. Relations between the two countries have always been tested, with each denying accusations that they are supporting rebel movements fighting their respective regimes.
In February, Chadian rebels, allegedly backed by Khartoum, advanced as far as the gates of the presidential palace in Ndjamena before being repulsed.
The two countries also broke off diplomatic relations in 2006 for four months after a rebel attack on Chad. |
