N’Djamena, Chad ? Chad signed a peace deal Wednesday with neighboring Sudan after months of accusations from both sides about rebel attacks and bloody cross-border raids.

The agreement calls for a joint military commission to monitor the border and “forbids the presence of rebel elements” in both counties, according to a statement by the Chadian government.

The statement was signed by Chad’s minister of territorial administration, Gen. Mahamat Ali Abdallah Nassour, and Sudanese foreign minister Lam Akol Ajaween.

The two nations’ presidents pledged in a Feb. 8 agreement signed in Libya to normalize relations and work to prevent the presence of rebel groups in each other’s country. But relations worsened in the following months, and the two countries have accused each other of fomenting instability. Chad blamed Sudan for backing an unsuccessful rebel attack on its capita, l N’Djamena, on April 13. Khartoum denied any involvement.

Decades of low-level clashes in Sudan’s Darfur region over land and water erupted into crisis in 2003. Ethnic African rebel groups rose up against the Arab-led government, which responded by unleashing ethnic Arab militias known as janjaweed, who have been accused of committing atrocities. The Sudanese government denies backing the janjaweed but agreed in May to disarm and disband them.