Malloum and Gaddafi restored diplomatic relations on 24 February in Sabha, Libya, where an international peace conference was held which included as mediators Niger's President, Seyni Kountché, and Sudan's Vice-President, Abu al-Gasim Mohamed Ibrahim. Under severe pressure from France, Sudan and Zaire, Malloum was forced to sign the Benghazi Accord, which recognized the FROLINAT and agreed on a new ceasefire, on 27 March. The agreement called for the creation of a joint Libya–Niger military committee tasked with implementation; through this committee, Chad legitimized Libyan intervention in its territory. The accord also contained a condition dear to Libya: the termination of all French military presence in Chad. The stillborn accord was for Gaddafi nothing more than a strategy to strengthen his "protégé" Oueddei; it also weakened considerably Malloum's prestige among southern Chadians, who saw his concessions as a proof of his weak leadership.