CAIRO: Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit met with Chadian counterpart Ahmat Allami Saturday to discuss the Darfur crisis' growing regional implications. Thousands of Sudanese refugees have fled to Chad to escape the decimated region, but the fighting has followed them into Chad where janjaweed fighters have reportedly conducted raids against them and Chadian civilians. Aboul Gheit expressed Egypt's grave concerns on this matter, fearing that it would complicate Chadian-Sudanese relations and have far reaching repercussions in the entire sub-continent. He stressed that he will also be holding discussions with Sudan so that a security arrangement could be ironed out between the two countries to prevent the raids from continuing. Aboul Gheit added that a comprehensive solution to the Darfur crisis will alleviate the crisis in Chad and improve the relations between the neighboring countries. Some villages in southeastern Chad have been attacked by the Janjaweed since November according to press reports. Recent violence has claimed the lives of 300 Chadians. 200,000 people have been displaced, 90,000 of them Chadians. Assistant Foreign Minister Ambassador Na'ila Gabr stated that Egypt had intensified its efforts this year to support and attempt to solve the prevalent issues in Africa present on the United Nations agenda. She added that Egypt would focus its efforts on attempting to achieve a unified African position on issues that concern the continent. Sudan refuses to allow UN peacekeepers or any Western troops in Darfur. Experts believe that Egypt supports the Sudanese stance in this case. Nabil Abdel-Fatah of the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, previously told The Daily Star Egypt that Egypt's mediating role in Sudan was an attempt to actually reduce the role of the international community in the war-torn country and was also an attempt to save face for the incumbent Sudanese government. Abdel-Fatah claims that Egypt s role in Sudan has regressed in light of the increased interest of the US, UK and EU in the troubled African nation. The mediation is an attempt by Egypt to re-align and reduce the international role in Sudan. It is Egypt s wish to replace the UN multi-national force in Sudan with a pan-African one. So strong is Egypt s desire in this respect that it is contributing 17,000 soldiers, he said.
