Dakar, Senegal – 13^th March - Sudan and Chad signed a peace accord – which is short of a peace treaty – at the OIC Summit in Dakar, Senegal on the night of 13^th March but this is only one of the few ‘successes’ that this summit will see before it ends on Friday 14^th. The summit has been marred by a series of hiccups that not embarrassed the host, Senegal but also the entire ‘Muslim Ummah’.

Omar Al Bashir of Sudan

The Presidents of Chad and Sudan signed the accord of non-aggression under the aegis of UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon and Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade who had earlier pressed both nations to ink an agreement before the end of the summit. President Wade and his foreign Affairs Minister Cheikh Tidiane Gadio had also pressed the OIC member states to vote the new OIC charter in the process before the end of the summit.

"We are officially engaged not to allow armed forces to use our territories to attempt any destabilization of each other’s nations,’ said a statement read by Minister Cheikh Tidiane Gadio.

‘This treaty also ends the differences between out two nations, establishes peace between us as well as security in the sub-region,’ added the Senegalese Minister who read the statement on behalf of the Chad and Sudanese leaders.

Idriss Deby of Chad

The conflict between these two nations is the only current live armed engagement between two Muslim nations in Africa and within the OIC. It took an ugly turn recently when armed forces said to be backed by Sudan attacked Ndjamena, the capital city of Chad. This was seen as a direct threat by Khartoum to Idriss Deby, the French backed President of Chad.

France’s role in the Darfur crisis is an open secret to the diplomatic world though the issue will not be touched during the OIC summit in Dakar. France has a military base in Chad and this is used as a ‘protection’ force for the Deby regime which is in conflict with two major Muslim neighbours of the Chad nation, Libya and Sudan. There have been intermittent conflicts between Chad and its neighbours in the recent past, involving Libya and Sudan on cross border issues.

France is maintaining a ‘colonial’ presence in the Chadian republic and is currently being used as a stepping stone for the United States in the Darfur saga in Sudan. Chad and the French presence is also being used as a waving stick against Libya, reminding Tripoli that colonial forces are still around the corner and could trigger regional conflicts in the event the Libyans does not bend to western pressures on certain issues.It is also interesting to note how the French presence in Chad is being used by the U.S. and France to attempt at undermining China’s influence in Sudan.

A map of french bases in Africa

China is a major development partner for Sudan, exploiting its oil reserves and ensuring that Sudan gains economically from Chinese investment in the country and the region. Washington has been clear in its diplomatic responses to Sudan’s resilience to deal with the Darfur issue by harping at possible sanctions and foreign troops (not US) involvement in the country.                                      

The entire Chad-Sudan conflict is today centered on the Washington’s desire to destabilise China’s oil interest in this part of Africa, prompting attempts by the Sudanese regime to in turn destabilize Chad and recently, attempting at simply removing Deby from power. Sudan’s ability to deal with Chad is hampered by the potential conflicts with existing rebels in southern Sudan and the western support for such terror groups in the south.

Southern Darfur, like southern Sudan, is rich in oil. The Chinese National Petroleum Corporation holds the large oil concession in southern Darfur. Chinese soldiers are alleged to be protecting Chinese oil interests. It is known that the rebels in southern Darfur are getting weapons from outside Sudan. "UN observers say they have better weapons than the Sudanese army, and are receiving supplies by air," according to Crescent International (UK).

On the other hand, the Darfur conflict is also one in which evangelical missionaries from the U.S. aided by supporters from Australia, Germany, France and the U.K. amongst others are penetrating the southern Sudan region and Darfur in the west in an attempt to spread their faith. Darfur is largely dominated by Islam but poverty and other geopolitical issues has led the missionaries to believe they can convert the Muslims there.

According to Enver Masud who wrote an analysis of the Darfur situation on the Wisdom Fund website Sudan, largely undeveloped, and barely emerging from colonial oppression, has been given a virtually impossible task of pacifying an area the size of France. This may be the pretext for yet another U.S.-British intervention for oil. The site added that in 1996, the U.S. sent nearly $20 million in surplus U.S. military equipment to Ethiopia, Eritrea and Uganda to topple the government of Sudan (The Washington Post), November 10, 1996), and it would appear that the U.S. and Britain are now competing with China, Sudan's largest trading partner, for Sudan's oil.

This is to support the views by WFOL that the conflict in Sudan’s Darfur and the border conflicts with Chad are simply a colonial attempt to destabilize a developing Muslim nation and to counter China’s rise in the world.Nevertheless, the OIC meeting has also been marred by a series of upsets that can only be explained by the deep divisions that exists within the organization.

The entire OIC body is structured as a loose coalition of Muslim states with the presence of a few majority non-Muslim countries forming a body to find consensus, not in empowering the ‘Ummah’, but in delaying conflicts and ignoring realities.

The OIC secretariat itself often finds itself at odds with the loose coalition of nations and fails to push its agenda – despite the real political will of the secretariat – due to the obvious divisions among the Muslim leaders.Dakar’s enthusiasm to make the 11^th summit a historic one has been dampened by the missing head of states, who played the usual tunes of national duties or simply by not explaining why the head of states did not turn out at the Leopold Sedar Senghor airport on Thursday 13^th.

It is always embarrassing not to have some head of states to be present at the OIC meeting. In general it expresses the divisions and oppositions that exist among states and in the case of Senegal, it may simply mean an affront to the leadership of the country while it could be based on some ongoing tussles between Senegal and the countries that did not send their leaders.Malaysia's Prime Minister did not come due to political instability in his country after the 12th general elections in Malaysia on 8th march.

It appears that the PM is in trouble of loosing his post with a much reduced majority for his ruling coalition - the coalition name is the National Front - and this could have sparked fears in him not to travel to Senegal.Yet being the former chairman of the OIC since 2003, it is really seen as an offence by the Senegalese and the African contingency as well as the OIC secretariat. His presence would have been an excellent point for the Senegal and for the African members of the OIC that the organization and the member states are in accord on all points. Not to highlight the absence of the Malaysian PM in Dakar would amount to ignoring a fact and to treat Senegal with disdain.

His absence on the other hand, despite the reasons given above, still reminds us of the deep divisions that exist among OIC member states on several issues.The absence of the Libyan leader Muammar Khaddafi can be interpreted as a refusal of Khadafi to be present on the same platform with the Somalia, Chad or Algerian leaders - with whom the Libyans does not share the same philosophies or policies - however, informed sources indicated that the Libyan leader is currently not the President of Libya as he is now considered as the spiritual leader of the country. Hence there is a vacuum as who is the current president of the country.

This post has been held by his son Saif Al Khaddafi for the past two years - according to informed sources - but this is not an official posting of his son as president as there are dissent among the leaders on who should replace Khaddafi in this power. Saif is said to be very popular and has edged his father from the formal post of president which is now in tatters since there is no real indication on whether Saif will be voted in as such.

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