Chad says accord with rebels last chance for peace
By Betel Miarom
N'DJAMENA, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Chad's president, Idriss Deby, has said a ceasefire accord signed in Libya between his government and four rebel groups is the insurgents' last chance to make peace.
In comments to French radio made late on Thursday in the Libyan city of Sirte, where the deal was signed, Deby also warned Chad's neighbours never again to back and arm rebel movements against him, saying this would lead to war.
This appeared to be a stern warning to Sudan, which Chad has long accused of supporting Chadian insurgents who have waged a hit-and-run guerrilla war against Deby from the turbulent east, bordering Sudan's conflict-torn Darfur region.
Thursday's Libyan-brokered accord, signed by the four main anti-Deby rebel groups, foresees an immediate ceasefire, release of prisoners and the creation of a committee to integrate rebel figures into Chadian state structures, officials said.
While Deby expressed hope that the accord would bring peace to his landlocked oil-producing country, he recalled that many past peace deals had been signed without effect.
"I think this is the last accord, really the last, that the government signs with an opposition ... and I think it's the last time Chad will allow a neighbouring country to arm Chadians to fight Chadians," he told Radio France International in Sirte, in comments broadcast on Friday.
"(If) any country in the future ... seeks to arm Chadians against the Chadian government, against Chad, we will enter directly into war against that country, not against Chadians."
Chad's past accusations that Sudan was arming rebels -- repeatedly denied by Sudan -- brought the two neighbours to the point of outright war several times. Mediation by neighbouring Libya led to several bilateral peace deals that failed to halt rebel raids and border clashes.
Deby himself seized power in a revolt in the east in 1990. Foes accuse him of ruling corruptly and favouring his own ethnic Zaghawa clan.
DARFUR PEACE TALKS
Besides Deby, Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir and Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi were present at the signing of the latest peace accord.
On Saturday, Libya is due to host peace talks between Sudan's government and some rebel groups from Darfur, where political and ethnic conflict has increasingly pushed refugees, rebels and militia raiders into Chad.
In a few weeks' time, a European Union peacekeeping force is due to deploy in eastern Chad to protect civilians, refugees and foreign aid workers from militia and rebel attacks.
The rebel groups who signed the accord with Chad's government were the Union of Forces for Democracy and Development (UFDD), led by Mahamat Nouri; the Assembly of Forces of Change (RFC), led by Timan Erdimi; the Chadian National Concord (CNT); and the UFDD-Fundamental faction.
The four groups had initialled an outline deal with Deby's government, also brokered by Libya, on Oct. 3.
Some of the rebel leaders had subsequently criticised that preliminary deal as incomplete, saying the terms for disarmament and reintegration of their forces into the Chadian military had not been resolved.
N'DJAMENA, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Chad's president, Idriss Deby, has said a ceasefire accord signed in Libya between his government and four rebel groups is the insurgents' last chance to make peace.
In comments to French radio made late on Thursday in the Libyan city of Sirte, where the deal was signed, Deby also warned Chad's neighbours never again to back and arm rebel movements against him, saying this would lead to war.
This appeared to be a stern warning to Sudan, which Chad has long accused of supporting Chadian insurgents who have waged a hit-and-run guerrilla war against Deby from the turbulent east, bordering Sudan's conflict-torn Darfur region.
Thursday's Libyan-brokered accord, signed by the four main anti-Deby rebel groups, foresees an immediate ceasefire, release of prisoners and the creation of a committee to integrate rebel figures into Chadian state structures, officials said.
While Deby expressed hope that the accord would bring peace to his landlocked oil-producing country, he recalled that many past peace deals had been signed without effect.
"I think this is the last accord, really the last, that the government signs with an opposition ... and I think it's the last time Chad will allow a neighbouring country to arm Chadians to fight Chadians," he told Radio France International in Sirte, in comments broadcast on Friday.
"(If) any country in the future ... seeks to arm Chadians against the Chadian government, against Chad, we will enter directly into war against that country, not against Chadians."
Chad's past accusations that Sudan was arming rebels -- repeatedly denied by Sudan -- brought the two neighbours to the point of outright war several times. Mediation by neighbouring Libya led to several bilateral peace deals that failed to halt rebel raids and border clashes.
Deby himself seized power in a revolt in the east in 1990. Foes accuse him of ruling corruptly and favouring his own ethnic Zaghawa clan.
DARFUR PEACE TALKS
Besides Deby, Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir and Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi were present at the signing of the latest peace accord.
On Saturday, Libya is due to host peace talks between Sudan's government and some rebel groups from Darfur, where political and ethnic conflict has increasingly pushed refugees, rebels and militia raiders into Chad.
In a few weeks' time, a European Union peacekeeping force is due to deploy in eastern Chad to protect civilians, refugees and foreign aid workers from militia and rebel attacks.
The rebel groups who signed the accord with Chad's government were the Union of Forces for Democracy and Development (UFDD), led by Mahamat Nouri; the Assembly of Forces of Change (RFC), led by Timan Erdimi; the Chadian National Concord (CNT); and the UFDD-Fundamental faction.
The four groups had initialled an outline deal with Deby's government, also brokered by Libya, on Oct. 3.
Some of the rebel leaders had subsequently criticised that preliminary deal as incomplete, saying the terms for disarmament and reintegration of their forces into the Chadian military had not been resolved.
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