Rebel Group Signs Darfur Peace Plan

(CBS/AP)  Sudan's government and the main Darfur rebel group signed a peace plan Friday, a major step in an internationally backed effort to end the death and destruction in western Sudan.

Two rebel groups, however, rejected the accord backed by the African Union, the United States, Britain, the European Union and the Arab League and skipped the signing ceremony at a Nigerian presidential villa.

Optimism over the accord was muted by their absence and a history of failure to live up to agreements struck over two years of negotiations in the Nigerian capital.

Observers broke into applause and whoops of joy as the parties signed the last page and then proceeded to initial each of the 85 pages of a document written by the African Union and revised by U.S., British and other envoys to meet rebel concerns. The hall was filled with traditional leaders in white turbans, fighters in camouflage turbans, diplomats and journalists.

Earlier, two smaller rebel groups maintained their rejection of the treaty, but U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick indicated they could be bypassed. That assessment was bolstered when one of the two split Friday, with dissenters criticizing their leader for not embracing the proposed treaty.

"Today the largest group, Minni Minnawi's, has agreed to sign and the government of Sudan have agreed to sign as well," Zoellick told The Associated Press. "Not all the movements are in accord, but we're already getting phone calls that people with (rebel faction leader) Abdel Wahid (Nur) believe he has made a mistake."

Both the rebels and the government repeatedly have failed to live up to agreements struck over two years of negotiations in the Nigerian capital. A cease-fire they signed in 2004 is in tatters.

Government spokesman Abdulrahman Zuma was buoyant Friday.

"The deal is peace," he said. "I think that the victory today is for Sudan."

Zoellick said implementing the agreement would be a challenge, but he was looking ahead next to organizing a U.N. peacekeeping force for Darfur.

The Sudanese government initially rejected calls for U.N. peacekeepers to replace the thousands of African Union peacekeepers in Darfur now, but indicated it would yield if a peace treaty was signed. Zoellick said there was strong backing for a U.N. force among the mediators in Nigeria.

"The government has no reservation whatsoever about any U.N. involvement or participation after the signing of the peace agreement," Zuma said Friday. "The United Nations is the only party that could help us, really, in implementing this peace agreement."

The peace deal calls for a cease-fire; disarmament of militias linked to the government and accused of some of the war's worst atrocities; the integration of thousands of rebel fighters into Sudan's armed forces; and a protection force for civilians.

Political provisions included guarantees that rebel factions will have the majority in Darfur's three state legislatures, but the rebels did not get the national vice presidency they had sought.

Minnawi spokesman Saifaldin Haroun said the faction still had concerns about power sharing, but was no longer insisting Sudan have a vice president from Darfur.

"The people in Darfur need the leadership of the movements to seize an opportunity for peace," Zoellick said, CBS News' Cheryl Casone reports.

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The other factions were holding out over demands for a vice president's spot as opposed to a top presidential adviser from Darfur and concerns that security and compensation for war victims were not guaranteed.

The faction led by Nur, who founded the Sudanese Liberation Movement that launched the revolt against the government but has since splintered, walked out of the negotiations before dawn Friday.

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