Chadian President Idriss Deby Itno arrived Monday in Khartoum on his first visit to Sudan since 2004, amid a thaw in ties between the African neighbours, an AFP correspondent said.
   
The visit is expected to help seal last month's accord normalising ties which had been strained by reciprocal accusations of support for rebels. Deby was greeted by Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir at Khartoum's airport. 
   
Chad has long accused Sudan of supporting rebels seeking to oust the  government, while Khartoum has charged Ndjamena with backing ethnic minority rebels in the conflict-torn western Sudanese region of Darfur.
   
Under the normalisation deal signed in mid-January, the two countries agreed to deploy a joint force on their border, to ensure that Chad and Sudan stop supporting rebels.
   
Legal teams from both countries were due to meet also on Monday in Ndjamena to carve out the joint force's rules of engagement while Sudan is expected to lead the first Chadian-Sudanese border unit.
   
A Sudanese diplomat has said the force should be made up of 3,000 men, with Sudan and Chad each providing 1,500.

Source: AFP