Rebel Group Signs Darfur Peace Plan

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.

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.

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.