Sudan, Chad trade threats

Sudan and Chad traded threats and accusations yesterday over cross-border attacks, cranking up tensions on their already violence-torn common frontier.

The Sudanese government promised a firm response, including possible military action, to what it said was a Chadian army attack on Monday that killed 17 of its soldiers.

While Chad denied any deliberate assault on its eastern neighbour, it acknowledged its forces had clashed with Sudanese troops after crossing the border to pursue Sudanese-backed rebels it said were launching raids.

The incident marked a sharp flare-up of tension between the two oil-producing central African neighbours, whose ties have been increasingly marred by violence spilling over from the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region.

Sudan summoned the Chadian ambassador over the incident. A Sudanese army spokesman, who asked not to be named, promised a "strong" response. "We will consider all responses, political, diplomatic and military," he said.

Chad's government warned Sudan against taking military action. "If Sudan opts for direct aggression, Chad will use all means to respond," Chad's Communication Minister Hourmadji Moussa Doumgor told a news conference in N'Djamena.

Reversing an earlier denial, Mr Doumgor said the Chadian army had used its "right of pursuit" to chase the rebels into Sudan, where he said Sudanese troops were protecting them.

Without acknowledging Sudanese military deaths, he said Chad regretted "civilian victims" had been killed in the fighting.

As the confrontation worsened, the United Nations said up to 400 people had been killed in Chad in cross-border attacks by Sudanese Janjaweed militia 10 days ago and one UN official who visited the remote area described scenes as "apocalyptic".

Decomposing corpses, hundreds of burnt out houses and animal carcasses were left behind. Many who survived the initial raids died from exhaustion and dehydration, often while fleeing, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.