Chad and Sudan make peace

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 Darfur area.

The signing, witnessed by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Organization 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 destabilize one or other of our states," said the agreement, brokered by Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade.