N'DJAMENA - Chad promised on Friday to back United Nations moves to end the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region by allowing international peacekeepers on its own soil, and even offered to host preliminary peace talks.
Chad President Idriss Deby made the commitment to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who was in the vast, landlocked country bordering Darfur on a tour to canvass support for the U.N.'s peace drive for the western Sudanese region.
After Ban met Sudanese leaders in Khartoum on Thursday, he announced Sudan would start talks in Libya on Oct. 27 with rebel groups to try to forge a peace in Darfur, where political and ethnic violence has raged since 2003.
"We've agreed to contribute all we can to this effort to resolve the Sudanese conflict," Deby told reporters. A communique issued later said Chad had pledged to "facilitate the rapid deployment" of a European Union force near Darfur.
Deby said Chad was offering to host a preliminary meeting for the Darfur rebel leaders to smooth out obstacles and difficulties prior to the October talks in Libya.
At a news conference, Chadian Foreign Minister Ahmat Allam-Mi said: "We have experience of dealing with the Sudanese rebels, we know them personally. If the parties want it ... we can play a role."
Ban indicated support for the proposed meeting. "I am convinced that it can happen before we begin the formal meeting, and we will work toward that," he said.
A senior U.N. official said later: "It's an offer and we will see if it works out. We have to discuss it with the parties. No date is set."
The Darfur conflict has killed some 200,000 people and made over 2 million homeless, international experts say, and spilled refugees, rebels and militiamen over the border into Chad, spawning ethnic violence and a humanitarian crisis.
