Sudan Accepts Darfur Peace Deal, Rebels Defiant

"The government ... wishes to confirm its decision to formally accept this document and its readiness to sign it," according to a statement from Majzoub al-Khalifa, head of the government's negotiating team at peace talks in Abuja, Nigeria, cited by Reuters.

"The government wishes to confirm its full commitment to implement the agreement in good faith."

The statement reaffirmed the government's conviction that "any difficulties that might come up in the implementation stages can be resolved by consensus between all the parties."

The announcement crowned all-night discussions at a no-frills hotel on the outskirts of the Nigerian capital Abuja.

The AU had set Sunday as a deadline for the government and Darfur rebels to wrap up negotiations that have dragged on for two years while the conflict in the vast western region of Sudan has escalated.

The conflict in the troubled western region, an arid region the size of France, flared up in February 2003 when rebels from black African tribes took up arms, complaining of discrimination and oppression by the Khartoum government.

The government is accused of unleashing Arab tribal militia known as the Janjaweed against civilians in a campaign of murder, rape and arson.

The United Nations maintains that the Darfur conflict is causing the world’s worst humanitarian crisis at present, estimating that at least180 , 000people have died from fighting, hunger and disease.

More than 2 million civilians have fled their homes to camps in Darfur and across the border into Chad to escape the fighting.

Defiant

The government said it had decided to sign despite reservations, and diplomats said the biggest of those centered on disarmament arrangements.

"What this (agreement) means, in effect, is that the government has to disarm the Janjaweed at a time when the rebels will still have their forces fully deployed, albeit in defensive positions," one diplomat closely involved in the talks told Reuters.

The government's statement was the latest in a series of diplomatic moves to try to convince rebels to drop some of their demands and rely on conflict resolution mechanisms embedded in the agreement.

The rebel Sudanese Liberation Movement and the Justice and Equality Movement have decided not to sign the85 -page AU-drafted accord, their spokesmen told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The groups made separate statements registering their refusal to sign the agreement after meeting just hours before the AU deadline.

Ahmed Tugon, JEM chief negotiator, claimed the government's statement "is an attempt to increase pressure on the movements and it clearly indicates that this document favors the position of the government."

The rebels, split into two movements and three factions with a history of infighting, want more favorable terms for a planned integration of some of their forces into the Sudanese army.

They also demand that Darfur gets a post of Sudanese vice president and a new regional government.

Several previous deadlines have passed without any apparent impact on the discussions.

But this time AU mediators said they had nothing more to achieve by listening to the parties' positions.

If the sides reject this draft, the AU Peace and Security Council was expected to decide on a new strategy for the peace process.

The US government and civil society have recently sought to increase pressure on Khartoum to end the violence.

US President George W. Bush said "genocide in Sudan is unacceptable" and endorsed a series of "Save Darfur" rallies taking place across the US on Sunday, organized by a coalition of more than 160 religious and humanitarian groups.

Aid groups say increased fighting in Darfur has made it impossible to deliver food and medicine to tens of thousands of refugees in Darfur and in camps across the border in Chad.

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