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Chad government hold talks with rebels in support of peace
The government is holding secret discussions with rebel groups who support peace and national reconciliation following a coup attempt earlier this month.
- Agencies
- Published: 11:45 February 27, 2008
N'Djamena: Chad's foreign minister said on Wednesday that the government is holding secret discussions with rebel groups who support peace and national reconciliation following a coup attempt earlier this month.
The government supports the peace agreement signed last October with four Chadian rebel groups, he said, and is ready to resume dialogue on implementing its provisions calling for an immediate cease-fire, amnesty for civil and military personnel, and the release of all detainees from both sides.
Allam-Mi said, “We are convinced of that. There cannot be a capacity for Chad to defend itself in the face of a foreign aggression unless there is a national cohesiveness."
He said Deby has offered "an outstretched hand" to those who support the peace agreement, which was signed in Sirte, Libya.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy is expected to visit the former French colony on Wednesday, where he is expected to ask Deby to agree to an investigation into the disappearance of two political opponents.
The two disappeared a month ago, before the rebellion, and lawyers representing them asked Sarkozy on Tuesday to seek "precise" information from Deby on their whereabouts.
Sarkozy is expected to ask Deby to agree to a probe by a "credible" international commission into the whereabouts of the two opponents, Ngarlejy Yorongar and Ibni OumarMohamat Saleh, his spokesman said.
Chad has been convulsed by civil wars and invasions since independence from France in 1960. The arid and impoverished central African nation is also one of the continent's
Former Chadian President Lol Mahamat Choua has been detained in a military prison while the judiciary investigates his ties with the rebels, Allam-Mi said.
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