CHAD, LIBYA SIGN PEACE ACCORD

Libya and Chad Thursday signed a peace accord ending 15 years of conflict, a source close to the Algerian presidency said. The source said that the foreign ministers of the two countries signed the pact in Algiers after mediation by Algeria and other African countries. The pact called for international arbitration on the disputed Aouzou strip, a desert border region annexed by Tripoli in 1973.

The accord crowns months of mediation efforts by the Organization of African Unity (OAU), which arranged a ceasefire between the two states in September 1987. Four African heads of state tried to bring the Libyan and Chadian leaders to sign a peace pact in the Malian capital of Bamako last month. But Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and Chadian President Hissene Habre failed after a two-day summit to overcome deep differences.