Chad, Sudan rebels scorn proposed Dakar peace pact

By Pascal Fletcher

DAKAR, March 12 (Reuters) - Rebels from Chad and Sudan's Darfur dismissed on Wednesday a new non-aggression pact due to be agreed by the countries' presidents, saying it would not bring lasting peace.

Chadian President Idriss Deby and his Sudanese counterpart Omar Hassan al-Bashir were scheduled to meet in Dakar later on Wednesday in reconciliation talks hosted by President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal on the eve of a summit of Islamic states.

Wade, who has sought a mediation role in several African conflicts, has drafted a peace accord to be signed by Deby and Bashir in the hope it can help end years of conflict on both sides of their common border, which includes Darfur.

Chad and Sudan have long traded accusations of supporting rebels hostile to each other. A series of previous peace pacts signed by Deby and Bashir in the past two years have collapsed amid renewed fighting in both countries.

Sudan's Bashir, who accuses Deby of failing to respect previous deals to stop supporting insurgents, has questioned the usefulness of yet another accord on paper, raising doubts as to whether the signing in Dakar will take place.

Chadian and Sudanese Darfuri rebel groups, which many see as fighting a proxy war for the presidents, said they did not believe the accord would end fighting in either country.

"It's going nowhere. It's just a protocol, a ceremony," said Ali Ordjo Hemchi, a representative of the Chadian rebel National Alliance, whose forces raided the capital N'Djamena last month.

Faulting the fact the planned Dakar deal did not include the rebels, he accused Senegalese leader Wade of "playing to the gallery" a day before he hosts a summit of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC). Chad and Sudan are OIC members.