A promised peace deal between Chad and Sudan was at least delayed and potentially scuttled when the Sudanese president failed to show for talks in Senegal's capital on the eve of an Islamic summit.
Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade, who declared last week that he had brokered a deal between the feuding nations and only the formal signing remained, said the talks would go forward yesterday morning on the sidelines of the summit.
In explaining the absence of the Sudanese leader, Wade said Omar al-Bashir called to ask for a delay until the next day because he was tired after a long journey and suffering from a headache. He did not provide further explanation or respond to questions on the subject.
The acrimonious leaders of Chad and Sudan have long traded accusations of supporting each other's rebel groups. The deal proposed by Senegal would have aimed to commit them to implementing earlier, faltered, accords in a step toward calming Darfur and other areas on their shared border.
Even if a deal does emerge, the last-minute postponement is a blow to Wade's claims to continental statesmanship.
The Senegalese president gathered Chadian President Idriss Deby and Gabonese President Omar Bongo together with the UN secretary-general and other high-level diplomats at the presidential palace, only to send them all away without the promised talks.
Earlier this week, both Deby and al-Bashir cast fresh doubt over chances for the latest peace attempt, repeating mutual accusations that each had failed to implement past accords.
In Paris last week, Wade said the agreement would call for disarmament of all armed movements except national armies and prevent armed groups from crossing the Chad-Sudan border.
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