Rebel Group Says No to Darfur Pact

After intense Western pressure and last-ditch efforts Thursday to negotiate an agreement to end the three-year conflict in Sudan’s Darfur region, one of the rebel groups said it would not sign a proposed peace accord.

The talks, aimed at putting an end to violence described by the U.S. as genocide, continued into the early morning today, though African Union mediators in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, had said there would be no major extension of the midnight deadline. The talks have been extended twice.

Earlier Thursday, hopes rose for a deal after rebel negotiators told the Associated Press that the latest draft met key concerns, including a demand for thousands of rebel fighters to be integrated into Sudan’s security and police forces.

But Ahmed Tugod, chief negotiator for the smaller rebel group, the Justice and Equality Movement, told the Associated Press early today, “We decided not to sign it unless changes are made.”

The two main rebel groups, the JEM and the Sudanese Liberation Movement, are factionalized, a major complication in reaching a peace accord.

Darfur’s catastrophic humanitarian situation, and the approach of the rainy season, when delivery of aid becomes difficult, has made the need for a peace agreement even more urgent.

International mediators were reported to be losing patience with the inflexibility of the rebel side in the peace talks, which had previously rejected a draft accepted by the Sudanese government. One of the main sticking points for rebels was how pro-government militias would be disarmed.

News of the setback came after meetings late Thursday involving Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and the AU chairman, Congolese President Denis Sassou Nguesso.

After two years and six rounds of talks and a failed 2004 cease-fire, both sides have also been under intense pressure from the U.S. and Britain.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert B. Zoellick and British Development Secretary Hilary Benn flew to Abuja to seek an end to the conflict between the Darfur rebel groups and the Arabic-speaking Sudanese government and allied militias.

The conflict began in 2003 when rebels in Darfur rose up in anger about the poor resources and services in the area. The government of Sudan responded by backing nomadic militias known as janjaweed that attacked and burned farming villages across the desert region in western Sudan, killing and raping civilians. The government has denied having ties to the militia.

Some reports indicate that as many as 180,000 people may have died as a result of the conflict and more than 2 million villagers were forced to flee their homes.

The Sudanese government this week accepted an earlier deal drafted by the AU requiring it to disarm the militias, to integrate some rebels into the Sudanese military and to spend $200 million a year on rebuilding the region.

But rebel negotiators rejected it, saying the draft met none of their key demands and fell short of the power- and wealth-sharing arrangements they had sought. The rebels also sought the establishment of a post of second vice president responsible for Darfur.

The JEM negotiator said that demand remained a main sticking point for his faction. Rebels had also called for a new government for the Darfur region, more representation in national political institutions and compensation for victims of war.

The United States helped draft a deal that rebels reportedly found more acceptable, raising hopes of peace.

“We are going to study them, but the improvements give us the sign that we can agree, that we do not need to renegotiate and that there will be no further delay for the final agreement,” Jaffer Monro of the largest Darfur rebel group, the Sudan Liberation Movement, told the Associated Press. It was the first sign that the rebels might be willing to sign a deal.

The deal called for integrating 4,000 rebels into the Sudanese army, 1,000 into the police force and providing training another 1,000.

International pressure has intensified, particularly on the rebels, with the European Union and others urging them to sign a deal to end the suffering.

But many say that it would be difficult to make any peace deal stick, with the government facing potential problems in meeting obligations to disarm the militia and delivering services across the vast region.

On Monday, President Bush telephoned Sudanese leader Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir, reinforcing the U.S. desire to see an end to the violence. According to Sudan’s official news agency, the Sudanese president assured Bush that he was determined to reach a peace agreement.

Thousands rallied Sunday in Washington, calling on the administration to take a more active role in Darfur peace efforts.