SOMALINET NEWS ...Archives
SUDAN, CHAD RESTORE FULL DIPLOMATIC TIES, EXCHANGE ENVOYS November 11, 2008
(SomaliNet) In a move that brought to an end a bitter six-month-old row between Sudan and Chad, the pair of African nations have restored full diplomatic ties and exchanged ambassadors.
Sources say the new ambassadors gave a joint press conference in Khartoum on Sunday and described the move as the first step in solving the persistent Darfur crisis - a western region in Sudan bordering Chad - which has complicated the relations between the two countries.
''This is a historical day and we hope it will be the end of the terrible diplomatic tension that went on between the two countries for six months,'' Abdullah al-Sheikh, Sudan's new ambassador to Chad said.
Chad's ambassador to Sudan, Baharadine Haroune Ibrahim, who flew to Khartoum on Sunday on a Libyan jet, which left to take his Sudanese counterpart to N'Djamena later on the day, also told reporters that he was "very happy to be back in my post".
"We came round to the idea of strengthening our relations in all sincerity and to live in harmony as two brotherly neighbors who share many things in common," Ibrahim added.
Sudan cut off diplomatic relations with Chad in May after an assault on Khartoum by Darfur rebel group, the Justice and Equality Movement, that the Sudanese government said was supported by Chadian President Idriss Deby.
Chad denied any involvement and in turn accused Sudan of backing a rebel push on its own capital N'Djamena in February that reached the gates of the presidential palace before being repulsed.
The reconciliation process involved mediation by Libya, the African Union, the Organization of Islamic Conference as well as Saudi Arabia.-Press TV