Sudan and Chad have struck a deal to end hostilities and arrange a summit between their leaders in a move seen as vital for peace-making efforts in Darfur.
“The agreement stipulates the halting of hostilities and everyone is now looking to the future, especially as both countries and people have big interests [in reconciliation],” Qatari Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Ahmad Abdullah al-Mahmud told reporters on Sunday.
Diplomats have been keen to secure a thaw in relations between Khartoum and Ndjamena, regarding it as essential to any lasting settlement to the six-year-old uprising in the western Sudanese region of Darfur that has spilled over into Chad and the Central African Republic.
“Relations between Chad and Sudan should be normalized. If not, it will be difficult to find a solution to the Darfur crisis,” former South African president Thabo Mbeki said on Saturday.
A Chadian government spokesman said on Monday he was confident the deal would hold and reaffirmed Ndjamena’s commitment to make it work.
“The Chadian government is optimistic this new accord will stay the course. We are optimistic because of our goodwill. We are declaring our good faith to be at peace with our Sudanese neighbors,” Mahamat Hissein said.
“We hope that this agreement, which has seen the involvement of several Arab countries and the African Union, will at last be implemented by Sudan,” said Hissein, who is also the Chadian communication minister.
Qatar and Libya have been leading reconciliation efforts between Chad and Sudan after they restored diplomatic ties in November following the latest six-month rupture between the neighbors.
Each government accuses the other of arming rebels seeking its overthrow.
With much pomp and circumstance, Cairo is today to inaugurate the long-awaited Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), widely presented as the crowning jewel on authorities’ efforts to overhaul the country’s vital tourism industry. With a panoramic view of the Giza pyramids plateau, the museum houses thousands of artifacts spanning more than 5,000 years of Egyptian antiquity at a whopping cost of more than US$1 billion. More than two decades in the making, the ultra-modern museum anticipates 5 million visitors annually, with never-before-seen relics on display. In the run-up to the grand opening, Egyptian media and official statements have hailed the “historic moment,” describing the
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