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The IIJD Newsletter:
   
Follow-up on Chad and Sudan: Peace Agreement Hopes to Increase Security in Troubled Region
By Matt Diffey
March 22, 2008
Dakar Agreement hopes to eliminate accusations of cross-border meddling in an effort to increase security, particularly in light of the Darfur conflict and the continuing refugee crisis.
In an effort to ease tensions between their countries, Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir and Chadian President Idriss Déby signed a peace accord in Dakar last week. The Dakar Agreement, as it is known, was mediated by Senegali president Abdoulaye Wade and its signing was overseen by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon [1].
  
 
The agreement was necessitated by the recent prevalence of cross-border meddling between the two countries. Both Sudan and Chad have been accused in supporting rebel groups operating within their neighbor's territory. The situation between the two countries got even more complex in early February, after a failed coup attempt against President Déby of Chad in N'Djamena. Mr. Déby accused the Sudanese government of supporting the rebels and threatened to expel refugees, who were viewed by the government as a threat to security.
 
 
The new pact calls for an end to such interference, with the governments agreeing to "inhibit all activities of armed groups and prevent the use of our respective territories for the destabilization of one or the other of our states" [2] The agreement also established an international monitoring committee led by Libya and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, that will meet monthly to monitor compliance [3].
  
 
Despite the promise of peace established by the agreement, there remains skepticism about compliance. The lengthy shared border and rebel groups' failure to acknowledge the agreement pose challenges to the diplomatic progress made by the Presidents of Chad and Sudan [4]. Hopefully the new presence of the European Union security force mission in deployed in Eastern Chad will bring increased stability to the region [5].
  
 
The stakes for increasing security in the region remain high, as approximately 500,000 refugees, displaced by the conflict in Darfur are located in Eastern Chad, and are heavily reliant on international relief efforts, which have been pushed to capacity in recent weeks. In addition, there is the difficulty of providing the much needed food aid in the Darfur region, as more than two million people rely on food supplies from the UN's World Food Program. So far this year, over 50 supply trucks have been high-jacked [6].
  
 
Despite the challenges that both governments will face in enforcing this treaty, it does represent a positive step for both Chad and Sudan, and for the millions of people affected by the Darfur conflict. Increased security in the region not only has the effect of directly reducing violence, but also the secondary effect of allowing more aid to be safely delivered to those in need.
  
 
At the IIJD, we think it would be remiss to focus only on the short-term solutions to this conflict. While the commitment to peace by both governments is admirable, by no means does it make up for their domestic shortcomings. The IIJD calls on the international community to maintain its pressure on Chad and Sudan to also address the corruption and lack of transparency that plague both governments. Specifically, Mr. Deby should reinstate the two-term limits for the President that he removed from the constitution in 2005. Without legitimate, well-functioning domestic institutions, neither Chad nor Sudan will be able to fully uphold its promise to peace, stability, and long-term development.
  
   
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