"The agreement stipulates the halting of
hostilities, and everyone is now looking to the
future, especially as both countries and people have
big interests," Ahmad Abdullah al-Mahmud, Qatar's
minister of state for foreign affairs, said on Sunday.
He said better relations between Sudan and Chad
could make it easier to reach a solution to the
conflict in Darfur in western Sudan.
"Both countries have a desire to solve the
problem," al-Mahmud said.
'Proxy war'
Al Jazeera's Mohamed Vall, reporting from Khartoum,
the Sudanese capital, on Monday, said the agreement
"stresses the acceptance on both sides to adhere to a
cessation of hostilities".
"It has not been a direct clash between the two
armies, it has been a proxy war in which rebel groups
from both sides are being used by these two
countries," he said.
"But if they stop arming those groups and aiding
and abetting those rebellions ... then that will be a
good step ahead."
Both nations have long traded accusations that each
is supporting rebel attacks inside the other's
territory.
Vall said there is a general feeling of relief in
Sudan in reaction to the agreement, even though people
know many such agreements have been signed before.
"The agreement is a step towards a much [more]
comprehensive agreement on the level of the presidents
that is going to be signed in Libya next month," Vall
said.
"The hope here is this will be a final one, and
everybody will stick to the commitments that are going
to be signed in this agreement."
'Border troubles'
Al-Tijani Saleh Fidail, Sudan's minister for
international co-operation, said the two African
countries were not at war, but had border troubles,
the Qatar News Agency reported.
Past agreements collapsed because officials did not
have a way of implementing them on the ground, he
said.
Moussa Faki Mahmat, Chad's foreign affairs
minister, said the only solution for the ongoing
conflict is to find a mechanism to monitor the
situation in both countries, the agency reported.
Qatar and Libya, which co-sponsored the talks, have
been leading reconciliation efforts between Chad and
Sudan since the two nations restored diplomatic ties
in November.
A final deal is expected to be signed next month in
Libya.
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