(dpa) - Neighbouring foes Chad and Sudan signed an agreement meant to ease tensions over accusations that Khartoum is arming militias that have tried to overthrow Chadian President Idriss Deby, reports said Friday.
The agreement, signed late Thursday, came hours after Deby accused Sudan of sending "several rebel columns" across its porous border into Chad, only a month after militias failed in their coup d'etat attempt on N'Djamena.
The accord, brokered on the sidelines of the Organization of the Islamic Conference summit ongoing in Senegal, is the fifth such deal signed by the neighbouring countries, but is meant to ensure those previous deals are implemented.
The agreement would see that each side deters the activities of armed groups and prevent any action that would destabilize the other country. An independent board would be created to monitor the deal's implementation.
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon witnessed the signing, the BBC reported.
The deal was originally meant to be signed Wednesday but Sudanese President Omar Beshir failed to show up, claiming he had a headache.