US Steps up Pressure on Khartoum Over Darfur

"Save Darfur" rallies are planned across the United States Sunday, April30 , drawing Hollywood's elite, musicians, religious leaders and politicians from all sides, coinciding with a deadline for the warring factions to reach agreement

at peace talks dragging on in Abuja, Nigeria, Reuters reported Saturday, April29 .

US President George W. Bush endorsed this weekend's rallies and met Darfur advocacy groups organizing the demonstrations, which will "agree with thousands of our citizens -- hundreds of thousands of our citizens -- that genocide in Sudan is unacceptable," said Bush after meeting rally organizers.

"I want the Sudanese government to understand the United States of America is serious about solving this problem," he said.

The rallies are organized by a coalition of more than 160 religious and humanitarian groups.

Sudan expert John Prendergast predicted Sunday's rallies would have "a decisive impact" in pressuring Bush to take a stronger line.

"There is a growing network of citizen groups which is trying to get change. We will see in the next few weeks who wins this battle," he said.

Oscar-winning actor George Clooney used his star power on Thursday, April27 , to focus attention on Sudan's Darfur region, where he said the first genocide of this century was

taking place.

Darfur has also become a major rallying cry on US campuses. The University of California in March voted to pull out of funds that invest in nine firms doing business in Sudan.

MTV's college network is participating in Sunday's Washington rally and introducing a video game on Darfur.

The US is leading a western drive to replace7 , 000African Union troops in Darfur with UN peacekeepers, a matter slammed by Khartoum as a pretext to internationalize the problem.

Sudan has said it will accept UN peacekeepers only if there is a deal in Abuja. If the talks fail, political analysts caution there will be even fewer options over how to handle Darfur.

Undecided

On the political development, a peace deal for the region hung in the balance as disunited rebel movements tried to decide whether to accept or reject a proposed agreement before Sunday's deadline.

AU mediators in Nigeria have presented an85 -page draft settlement, the result of two years of tough negotiations on security, power-sharing and wealth-sharing between the rebels and the Sudanese government.

"We want to have consensus within the movement before giving our final position," Reuters quoted as saying Abduljabbar Dosa, chief negotiator of the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) rebel group.

The government on Thursday, April27 , submitted to the AU a list of reservations it had about the draft, but it has said the document is a good framework for a deal.

Observers say the main obstacles now are on the side of the rebels.

Infighting among the rebels, which are split into two groups and three factions, has been a problem throughout the peace process. They are now having a hard time deciding what to do.

Their main problem with the document is that it does not meet their demands for Darfur to get a new post of Sudanese vice president and a new regional government.

They have other objections on issues ranging from compensation to disarmament.

The SLA and the smaller Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) took up arms in ethnically mixed Darfur in early 2003 over what they saw as neglect by the central government.

The fighting has killed tens of thousands of people while a campaign of arson, looting and rape has driven more than two million from their homes into refugee camps in Darfur and neighboring Chad.

A ceasefire was signed in 2004 but all sides have continued fighting, according to the AU. Violence has escalated to the point that vast areas are off-limits for aid workers.

The UN World Food Program (WFP) said Friday donor countries appear to have tired of the conflict.

It regretted that it would have to cut food rations for some three million people in Darfur after receiving only 32 percent of its annual appeal for funds for Sudan.

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