Talks continue to convince Darfur rebels to sign peace deal
June 1, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — Talks continued Thursday to convince rebel groups to sign the Darfur peace agreement, the African Union said, a day after one of the holdout factions rejected an accord to resolve the crisis in western Sudan.
The African Union-drafted accord was signed May 5 by the government and main Sudan Liberation Movement, but both a Abdelwahid al-Nur group of the Liberation Movement and the Justice and Equality Movement have resisted international calls to accept the deal.
Khalil Ibrahim, who heads the Justice and Equality Movement, rejected the pact Wednesday, saying it does not provide “a fair share of resources and power” for his group.
“We want a fair peace agreement,” he said after meeting Slovene President Janez Drnovsek, who has made mediation bid in the Darfur crisis.
The African Union had set a deadline of midnight Wednesday to sign the deal.
“The African Union continues its intensive talks with the factions to convince them to sign, even after the deadline has passed,” Khartoum-based AU spokesman Moussa Hamani said.
He added, however, “the agreement itself is not negotiable.”
Another AU spokesman in the Sudanese capital, Noureddine Mezni, said that First Vice President Salva Kiir Mayardit, chairman of the Sudanese People’s Liberation Movement, is mediating to bring the factions together in Juba, in the country’s south, for further talks in coming few days.
Ibrahim insisted that amendments should be made to the accord, although he did not specify any changes. He vowed his group is “ready to continue negotiations and to cooperate with international organizations.”
Darfur has been torn by violence since rebel groups made up of ethnic Africans rose up against the Arab-led Khartoum government in 2003. The government is accused of responding by unleashing Arab militias known as the Janjaweed who have been blamed for some of the war’s worst atrocities.
Khartoum denies backing the Janjaweed but has said it will try to rein them in since the deal was signed.
Ensuring the Janjaweed respect the cease-fire is key to persuading Darfur rebels to comply with the peace deal, but there have been several Janjaweed attacks since then, U.N. officials said.
The AU’s 7,200 peacekeepers in Darfur have largely been ineffective in stopping atrocities and re-establishing security, leaving tens of thousands of people in camps, with little food or water.
The Sudanese government had said the peace deal opened the way to a U.N. force for Darfur, but has moved only with reluctance to help the U.N. prepare to get peacekeepeers on the ground.
(ST/AP)