Rebel Group Signs Darfur Peace Plan

Sudan's Government, Main Group Make Step Toward Ending Conflict

(CBS/AP) 
Another rebel group, the Justice and Equality Movement, also abandoned the talks.

"Unfortunately, the draft does not fulfill the ambitions of the people of Darfur," JEM negotiator Ahmed Tugod told the Arab satellite TV station Al-Arabiya. "This deal cannot produce logical results that lead to solving the Darfur issue. We are against partial solutions."

Further complicating the issue, one of Nur's top negotiators, Abdulrahman Moussa, said he was forming his own Front for Liberation and Renaissance and taking half of Nur's camp with him to support the peace agreement.

Nur "is not compromising and I don't think he is seeking peace, especially after the generous offer from Zoellick," Moussa said.

He said his group was new and might not have status to formally sign the peace agreement, but the African Union and the international community "will acknowledge our will for peace and then we will find a way to negotiate with the government."

Sudan's government agreed days ago to an initial proposal drafted by AU mediators and has been flexible as U.S. and British officials tried to fine-tune it to address rebel concerns. Members of the fractious rebel camp are united in accusing the central government of neglecting their impoverished region, but divided because of leadership rivalries and differing approaches.

Envoys from the African Union, the United States, Britain, the European Union and the Arab League have been pushing for a resolution and talks continued Friday. Deadlines have been extended twice since Sunday and Thursday's session went five hours beyond the midnight time limit.

In New York, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged all countries to press the warring parties for agreement but warned the international community has an obligation to protect civilians in Darfur, by force if need be.

He also reminded world leaders that at September's World Summit they had agreed it was each state's responsibility to protect its citizens, "but where they fail, or are unable to do so, or they themselves are the perpetrators, the international community, through the (Security) Council, has to take action, and, if need by, by force."

The time had come to redeem that pledge in Darfur, Annan said in an interview on "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer" on PBS television.

The U.N. Security Council a year ago authorized seizure of assets and a travel ban on individuals defying peace efforts or violating human rights law in Darfur. Those sanctions were imposed for the first time last month against a commander of the Sudanese air force, a Janjaweed militia leader and two rebel commanders.

At the American Jewish Committee's centennial dinner Thursday, Mr. Bush addressed the genocide in Darfur and said he would push the United Nations for a resolution to stop Iran's nuclear programs, CBS News reports.

At least 180,000 people have been killed and more than 2 million forced to flee their homes in what the United Nations has called one of the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

The Darfur conflict, which erupted in February 2003, also has spilled into Chad and Central African Republic, and Osama bin Laden last week urged his followers to go to Sudan to fight the proposed U.N. presence.