Agreement between leaders from Sudan and Chad to end proxy wars between the countries has brought hope for an end to the conflict in Darfur.

Decisions to pursue normalcy were made after a rare meeting between Chadian President Idriss Deby and Sudanese leader Omar Hassan al-Bashir in Khartoum on Monday where Deby called for a ceasefire from Chad's rebels.

According to BCC, Al-Bashir said the meeting had "put an end to all the problems" between the countries.

"Deby and I are here to confirm to the Sudanese-Chadian people that we have turned the page of our differences and disputes between the two states," he said.

"From today, our common battle is the realization of peace, security and stability for the affluence of the people of the two states."

Observers have seen the meeting as a crucial step towards pursuing peace in the war-torn Darfur region, which has been plagued by civil war since 2003.

"We are extremely grateful [to] both the Sudanese government and the Chadian government [for reaching] out to each other," U.S. envoy Scott Gration told AFP.

"We think this is historic, but more than that we think this is an absolute key to breaking what we think is a cycle of insecurity that is going on in Darfur," he said.

The move by the two governments is expected to impact current Darfur peace talks happening in Doha, Qatar, which are being led by the United Nations (U.N.).

The Darfur conflict, which has claimed over 300,000 lives, has been a central focus of humanitarian concern from governments, NGO's, and churches.

Church leaders from Sudan and England met with UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown in January to urge him to take action on supporting Sudan's Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), which has been left unfulfilled since its drafting in 2005.

"There is fear that the CPA will become another agreement not fulfilled," Sudan Archbishop Daniel Deng told reporters.

"The CPA and the current agreements on referendum and popular consultation law are simply pieces of paper until they are actually implemented on the ground."

At its Central Committee meeting last September in Geneva, the World Council of Churches (WCC) called the Darfur conflict a "moral challenge for the international community," and issued a statement condemning, "the mass atrocities committed against innocent civilians in Darfur."

The group said that churches must "assume their pioneering role and raise the prophetic voice with regard to the Darfur crisis," and also appealed to the Sudan government to actively commit to the CPA.