Libya's Gaddafi warns of NATO intervention if Chad and Sudan don't return to normal

Libyan leader Col Gaddafi on Thursday urged Sudan and Chad to settle their differences in the name of African unity as he opened a summit of African leaders in Tripoli, SudanTribune reported June 1, 2006. Excerpt:

"The conflict between Sudan and Chad serves only the enemies of Africa," Gadhafi said at the opening of the two-day summit of Community of Sahel-Saharan states (CEN-SAD).

"Relations between Chad and Sudan must return to normal," Gadhafi said.

If the conflict between the two countries continues, "that would open the way for intervention by troops of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation," he said.

"We must send observers to Darfur and the Sudan-Chad frontier," Gadhafi added.

Chad's Foreign Minister Ahmat Allami on Wednesday urged fellow African states to exert pressure on Sudan over its alleged support for Chadian rebels.

The Sudanese minister of state for foreign affairs, Al-Sammani al-Wassila, denied the charges of Sudanese interference in Chad, saying Khartoum was "ready to resolve this dispute"