Sudan expects more factions to sign Darfur peace deal

Nov 3, 2006 (BEIJING) — Sudanese President Omer Hassan al-Bashir said here Friday that he expects more armed factions to sign a peace deal to end the conflict in Darfur.

Al-Bashir, who arrived here for the upcoming two-day Beijing summit of the Forum on the China-Africa Cooperation, told Xinhua that his government is working hard to persuade more factions to join the peace agreement signed in Abuja in May.

The president said the Abuja agreement, if joined by more factions, would bring overall peace to his country.

On May 5, the Khartoum government signed an agreement with a main faction of the rebel Sudan Liberation Movement led by Minni Arkou Minawi in the Nigerian capital Abuja.

Sudanese Parliament Speaker Ahmed Ibrahim Tahir announced last month that 20 new members from Darfur and east Sudan would join the parliament as representatives of the parties that have signed the peace deal.

Al-Bashir made the remarks against the backdrop of a UN Security Council resolution adopted on Aug. 31, which calls for the deployment of more than 20,000 international peacekeepers to replace the underfunded 7,800 AU forces in Darfur.

But the Sudanese government has rejected the mission transfer, saying it was a violation of Sudan’s sovereignty and an effort by the West to re-colonize the African oil producing country.

Sudan, a Muslim-dominated nation with nearly 40 percent of its population Arabs, is located in north Africa and is a member state of both the pan-Arab forum and the African Union.

In Sudan’s western region of Darfur, rebel groups took up arms against the government in early 2003, accusing Khartoum of marginalizing the region.

Last month, the AU Peace and Security Council decided to extend the mandate of the 7,800-strong AU forces in Darfur to Dec. 31, calling on Arab countries and the international community to provide necessary help for the forces.

(Xinhua)