Chad - Sudan

Chad responds to Sudan severing ties with N'Djamena

Article published on the 2008-05-12 Latest update 2008-05-12 19:53 TU

Jem fighters
(Photo: AFP)

Chad closed its border with Sudan on Monday and froze economic and cultural ties to its neighbour in response to Khartoum breaking off relations with N'djamena. The Sudanese government accused Chad of backing the first Darfur rebel attack on Khartoum last Saturday, and more gunfire near the US embassy was reported on Monday.

The incidents came after the arrest of prominent Sudanese Islamist opposition leader Hassan al-Turabi. He has been accused of links to the rebel group Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), who attacked the capital at the weekend.

Turabi, an Islamist, shares the ideology of JEM, but both sides have denied any political links.

 Associates of Turabi said that he had been arrested along with four other members of his Popular Congress party.

Omar Ismael, a political analyst at the Darfur Enough Project, based in Washington DC, spoke of how the rebels organised their attack on the Sudanese capital: