More than 130 village chiefs from the ethnic Zaghawa and Asshongori communities met to put an end to their long-running dispute and improve the security situation in the Waldagalda area of Molou canton along the Chadian-Sudanese border, the mission - known as MINURCAT - reported today.

The two communities of herders and farmers had been feuding over land use for some time, but under the mediation of local authorities with support from MINURCAT, they agreed to set up a reconciliation commission to improve relations.

Zaghawa chiefs committed to living peacefully with the Asshongori and to stopping insecurity caused by delinquent members of their own community, and they publicly called on the Asshongori to return to the area and tend to their fields.

It is hoped that more than 1,000 members of the Asshongori community currently living in neighbouring Sudan will now feel secure enough to return to their villages in eastern Chad.

Rima Salah, the Secretary-General's Deputy Special Representative in Chad, visited the region this week and praised the efforts of local authorities to support reconciliation moves.

Last month, as part of the Intercommunity Dialogue initiative sponsored by the mission, the European Union and Chadian authorities, members of the ethnic Zaghawa and Massalit communities near the town of Adre agreed to end their own dispute.#