Chadian President Idriss Deby and his Sudanese counterpart Omar al-Bashir signed a peace agreement in Senegal to end cross-border rebel attacks.

The agreement was signed on Thursday in the presence of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Senegal’s President Abdoulaye Wade.

“We decide solemnly to ban any actions of armed groups and prevent the use of our territories for destabilising the situation in one or another country,” the agreement stated.

“We will normalise our relations and give ourselves the means to contribute to peace and stability of our two nations,” it stated. Senegal is currently hosting a two-day summit of the 57-nation Organisation of the Islamic Conference.

The barren border regions of eastern Chad are already home to half a million displaced, including Chadians uprooted by fighting and refugees from Darfur, where political and ethnic violence has killed some 200,000 people since 2003. Humanitarian workers say security is key if they are to continue operating in and around Darfur.