THE LEADER of Darfur’s main rebel group was prevented from entering Chad yesterday, in a further sign that relations between the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and the Chadian government are cooling.
Authorities at N’djamena airport refused entry to Khalil Ibrahim and other JEM members who arrived from the Libyan capital Tripoli at 1am, confiscating their passports and refusing them passage to Darfur, where they were travelling. Instead, authorities ordered them to return to Tripoli, even though the pilot of the Libyan Afriqiyah airlines plane said he could not do so as the party did not have correct documents.
“We are helpless – I have no ID now,” Mr Ibrahim said by telephone from the plane earlier in the day.
“They want to destroy our cause”, he said, adding he had been stuck on the plane for 12 hours. As always, there was a heavy military and police presence outside the airport, with at least two pick-up trucks armed with khaki-clad soldiers on the tarmac.
Authorities at the airport refused to comment on Mr Ibrahim’s whereabouts but, according to interior minister Ahmat Mahamat Bachi, he did not want JEM rebels passing through.
“We have re-established relations with Sudan so we cannot allow these undesirable people to pass through,” he said.
Chad is a common route for travelling to Darfur in western Sudan, and in the past was used by JEM as a base for its troops and transit point for officials. However, relations have turned sour, as the Chadian government of Idriss Déby restored relations with Khartoum. Chad has long accused Sudan of supporting rebels seeking to oust the government, while Khartoum said N’djamena was backing rebels in Darfur.
In January, Chad signed an agreement with Sudan to normalise relations, ending years of tension between the neighbouring countries. The two agreed to deploy a joint military force on their border, in a move aimed at ending the activities of rebels.
Talks between the Sudanese government and Darfur’s main rebel group have recently broken down, after the JEM accused the country’s army of attacking its positions last month. The government then asked Interpol to arrest Mr Ibrahim for planning an attack in Omdurman in 2008.
Since the conflict in Darfur began in 2003, 2.7 million people have fled their homes. Another 300,000 have been displaced says the UN, although Khartoum says this is a gross exaggeration.