Sudan Sovereign Council chairman meets Chad president

The Chairman of the Sovereign Council, Lt Gen Abdefattah El Burhan, held talks with Chad President Idris Déby at his residence in Um Jaras in Chad yesterday to discuss regional issues and terrorism.

El Burhan said in a press statement that Sudan “stands with Chad in its response to the fight against terrorist groups” from Um Jaras, before his return to Khartoum.

He said the meeting focused on the bilateral relations, security, and economic cooperation between the two countries.

The meeting focused on regional issues, including situation in the Central African Republic, Chad, and the peace process in Sudan. They also discussed challenges in Central and West Africa, in particular the Sahel region.

The President of Chad tweeted that the two countries share “a common destiny”.

Rebels

On August 13, the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF) rebel alliance leadership held talks in Juba with a high-level Chadian delegation led by Sheikh Ben Omar, Diplomatic Advisor to President Idris Déby. SRF’s spokesperson Osama Saeed told reporters in the South Sudanese capital that the meeting covered ways in which Chad can support the peace process, “as it is a key partner in the process of bringing peace to Sudan”.

On the same day, the SRF held meetings with Egypt and the United Arab Emirates about a Sudanese peace agreement.

The alliance also met with Sudan’s Minister of Defence. About one month ago, Dr Dhieu Mathok, member of the South Sudanese mediation team, announced the postponement of the signing of the final peace agreement by the government and the SRF. At the time, he said that the government and the SRF agreed on six major issues, only the security protocol remained to be discussed.

Refugees

More than 2,500 refugees from West Darfur have fled to neighbouring Chad since the end of July, according to the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR.

More than 80 per cent of those arriving in the Chadian border town of Adré are women, children and elderly people who ran for their lives as clashes erupted. Many have witnessed extreme violence. A 25-year-old woman told UNHCR staff that her husband was stabbed to death in front of her eyes and she had to run for her life with her three children, making the journey to Chad riding a donkey for one full day.

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, in collaboration with the government of Chad and its national partners, is relocating the refugees from the border areas to the Kouchaguine-Moura refugee camp further inland. The camp was already hosting more than 6,000 Sudanese who had arrived in February 2020.

Chad currently hosts 476,000 refugees and asylum seekers, including some 365,000 from Sudan.

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