News Article by AP posted on August 03, 2008 at 02:04:10: EST (-5 GMT)
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Sudan to reopen embassy in Chad; 2 leaders to meet KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) -- Sudan will reopen its embassy in neighboring Chad and their leaders will hold a summit, state media reported Saturday, as the two nations restore ties cut after Sudan accused its rival of supporting a rebel attack on its capital. A date has yet to be set for the meeting between President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan and his Chadian counterpart, Idriss Deby, said an adviser to al-Bashir, according to state media. Sudan accused Chad of supporting Darfur-based rebels who launched an attack on Khartoum in May that was the closet they had ever come to the seat of Sudan's government. Sudan cut diplomatic ties with Chad immediately afterward. Chad in turn closed its border with Sudan and halted bilateral trade. The rebels who carried out the May 10 attack are from the Justice and Equality Movement, a well-armed group linked to neighboring Chad, which has for decades been an off-and-on enemy of Sudan. Chad has also accused Sudan of supporting its own rebel foes. A March peace accord brokered by Libyan and Congolese mediators aims to ensure rebel groups from each country cannot use the neighboring country as a staging ground for incursions. The planned summit will be sponsored by Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, said the Sudanese presidential adviser, Mustafa Osman Ismail, according to the media reports. After announcing in July that he was willing to restore ties, al-Bashir ordered the Foreign Ministry to make arrangements to reopen the embassy in Chad, according to the reports by the official SUNA news agency and Omdurman Radio. The Sudanese president has also ordered government media to refrain from publishing or broadcasting any news against Chad, the adviser was quoted as saying.
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