2,000 Sudan-Chad border troops to be deployed in January

November 17, 2008 report from Sudan Tribune - Sudan-Chad border troops to be deployed in January:

November 16, 2008 (NDJAMENA) - The deployment of 2000 troops from Sudan and Chad along the joint border could intervene next January, said the Congo Republic Foreign Minister Basile Ikouebe Sunday.



Photo: Chad’s President Idriss Deby Shakes hand with Sudan’s FM Deng Alor, in Ndjamena Nov 16, 2008

Foreign ministers of Dakar contact group charged with improving relations between Sudan and Chad wrapped a two-day meeting in the Chadian capital, N’djamena today. The member of ce group are: Chad, Sudan, Libya, Gabon, Congo Republic, Senegal and Eritrea.

Congolese foreign minister told reporters on Sunday that the deployment of 1,000 Chadian soldiers and 1,000 Sudanese soldiers is expected to take place during the first month of 2009. He further said that the joint force would monitor the border to observe there are no movements to destabilise the stability in one of the two countries.

The meeting which was chaired by the Chadian foreign minister Moussa Faki Mahamat, adopted the border force budget. It amounts to twenty-one million U.S. dollars.

The 7th meeting which would be held in Khartoum next January would finalize the establishment of the Observation Mission and the mechanism of troops’ deployment. Also, the meeting will define the duties of the general coordinator of the joint force.

Signed in March, the Dakar agreement, which is far from being the first peace agreement between Chad and Sudan, aimed for both countries to stop supporting proxy rebel fighters.

The agreement pledged to "prohibit any activity by armed groups and prevent the use of their respective territories for the destabilization of one or the other" in both countries.

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Note, Sudan Watch 20 November 2008: UN Panel of experts report to UN Security Council depicts an “undeniable” ongoing proxy war between Chad and Sudan