Rebels crossing Chadian-Sudanese border of ‘deep concern’ to Secretary-General

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today urged Chad and Sudan to make every effort to ensure that rebel groups do not use their territory as a staging ground for incursions across their mutual border.

“The Secretary-General is deeply concerned by reports of continued movement of rebel groups across the Chadian-Sudanese border and by the possibility that these groups may launch cross-border attacks,” Mr. Ban’s spokesperson said in a statement.

He called on the Governments of Chad and Sudan to uphold their commitments under the 13 March Dakar Accord, which was facilitated by Mr. Ban, Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade and others on the margins of the summit of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) and calls for reconciliation and the normalizing of bilateral relations.

Tensions have been high in the region in recent months with about 10,000 people from West Darfur seeking refuge in eastern Chad following a series of deadly air and land attacks by the Sudanese Government and its allied militias, and Chadian rebels suspected of crossing the border to attack the forces of their Government.

In today’s message, the Secretary-General called on the Contact Group, established under the Dakar Accord, to work with the parties in facilitating the pact’s implementation.

He reaffirmed that the UN stood ready do everything within its capacity to help stabilize the border region.