Sudan govt, splinter Darfur rebel group signed peace deal

KHARTOUM, Sudan, Dec 18, 2004 (PANA) — The government of Sudan and the recently identified rebel group from the strife-stricken western Darfur region on Friday signed two protocols in the Chadian capital N’djamena on humanitarian and security access in the war zone, an official source confirmed here Saturday.

The government-owned Sudan Media Centre (SMC) reported Saturday that the Khartoum government and the rebel National Movement for Development and Reform (NMDR) who have been negotiating for four days under the patronage of Chadian authorities claimed readiness to fully implement the two protocols.

Chadian President Idriss Derby had agreed to mediate the talks, which began Tuesday between Khartoum’s delegates and the NMRD to help with the peace talks on Darfur underway in Nigeria.

The SMC said that Sudan’s minister of investment, Sharif Ahmed Omer, and NMDR secretary general, Gibril Bari, signed for the government and the movement, respectively.

Under the protocols, the centre reported that both parties
promised to abide by a comprehensive ceasefire on Darfur,
release war prisoners and organise voluntary repatriation for
internally displaced persons, (IDPs) and refugees.

The protocols also endorsed those previously signed in
N’djamena and Addis Ababa which Khartoum signed with another
two rebel movements in the Darfur region where fighting
escalates day after day.

Likewise, the deal has stated that NMDR forces shall be
assembled in designated areas for a maximum of two months.

Chadian ministers, UN and AU representatives attended the
signing ceremony.

The NMRD recently appeared on the scene in the troubled Darfur
region, as a breakaway wing of the rebel Justice and Equality
Movement (JEM), which is engaged in peace talks alongside the
rebel Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) in the Nigerian capital
city of Abuja with the government of Sudan.

Informed sources said that the JEM and SLM had refused to let
the NMRD take part in their own lengthy and difficult
negotiations with Khartoum.

The conflict has led to what the UN calls the world’s worst
current humanitarian crisis, with an estimated 70,000 people
killed and about 1.6 million forced from their homes.