Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir and Chadian President Idriss Deby signed a peace agreement on Thursday designed to end cross-border rebel attacks in a region which includes Sudan's conflict-ravaged Darfur area.
The signing, witnessed by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) head Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, also aims to revive a string of past pacts that have failed to end fighting on both sides of the Chad-Sudan border.
"We solemnly pledge to ban the activities of all armed groups and to prevent the use of our respective territories to destabilise one or other of our states," said the agreement, brokered by Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade.
The two oil-producing countries agreed to "normalise relations" and put a "definitive end" to their differences.
Foreign diplomats say Chadian rebels have regularly used the Darfur border region as a base from which to launch incursions into Chad. Sudan has in turn repeatedly accused Chad's government of backing Darfuri rebel groups.
The barren border areas of eastern Chad are home to half a million displaced, including Chadians uprooted by fighting and refugees from Darfur, where about 200,000 people have been killed in political and ethnic violence since 2003.
Instability on both sides of the border has hampered international efforts to deliver aid. It has also spilled into Central African Republic, worsening an insurgency there.
"CONTACT GROUP"
The latest pact foresees the formation of a "contact group" made up of foreign ministers from a handful of African countries, who will meet monthly to ensure the deal - known as the Dakar agreement - is implemented in good faith.
Deby and Bashir have met before to try to resolve their differences, which have brought the neighbours close to all-out war on a number of occasions.
