Peace deal in peril as Sudan attacked

SUDAN yesterday accused Chad of attacking its troops and bombing a village in Darfur, and vowed to respond to the “aggressive and serious” violations of a fledgling peace agreement.

“This morning, two Chadian helicopters crossed the border and attacked positions of the Sudanese armed forces southeast of Baida,” military spokesman Othman Mohammed al-Agbash said.

“The helicopters fired one air-to-surface missile at 2.30am and then returned to another location of the Sudan armed forces northeast of Baida at 6.15am, firing one air-to-surface missile.”

Foreign ministry spokes-man Ali al-Sadiq confirmed the second attack to AFP and said hours later “a [surface-to-surface] rocket which came from Chadian territory hit a Sudanese military unit inside Sudan”.

There were no initial reports of casualties.

On Tuesday, Chad’s defence ministry claimed Sudan was behind a rebel attack in the east of its territory which violated a March 13 peace pact signed in Dakar — the latest of many peace agreements between the two neighbours.

Chadian Prime Minister Delway Kassire accused Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir of wanting to “demolish Chad regardless of the cost”.

The Sudanese military vowed to counter any aggression and againdenied any involvementin fighting on Tuesdaybetween rebel and government forces in an area of eastern Chad that borders Darfur.

“Chad is making excuses to attack Sudan on the pretext that Sudan supports the Chadian opposition. The armed forces refute this,” said Agbash.