Sudan says will not open talks on Darfur peace deal

May 17, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — Sudan refused on Wednesday to reopen negotiation on a peace deal signed between the government and a main rebel faction in Sudan’s western region of Darfur earlier this month.

“We will not open the negotiation again and there is no problem (in the peace agreement) which should be negotiated any more,” Sudanes government delegation to Abuja talks spokesperson Amin Hassan Omer told reporters.

On May 5, Khartoum signed a peace deal with Minni Arkou Minawi- led faction of the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) in the Nigerian capital Abuja to put an end to the three-year-old Darfur conflict.

However, the rival SLM faction led by Abdelwahid al-Nur and another smaller rebel group, the Justice and Equality Movement ( JEM) led by Khalil Ibrahim, rejected the peace agreement, claiming that it did not meet their demands.

The spokesperson said the government was set to implement the peace agreement by establishing a central committee for the Darfur development and estimating the needs in the region before a donors ‘ conference due in Holland in September.

The government would also allocate 300 million U.S. dollars before the end of this year for launching the development program in Darfur and providing the basic services for the residents in the region.

The African Union (AU), which brokered the peace deal and deployed 7,000-strong peacekeeping force in Darfur, on Monday gave the two rebel factions two weeks until the end of May to sign the peace agreement.

Chairman of the AU commission Alpha Oumar Konare has warned that the pan-African body may request UN sanctions against the groups if they undermined the Darfur peace accord.

(ST/Xinhua)