Darfur’s two rebel factions came under fresh pressure on Tuesday to sign a fragile peace agreement as Khartoum and the African Union joined international calls on the pair to endorse the deal.
Only the largest faction of one of two main rebel groups signed the peace agreement with Khartoum at the African Union (AU)-sponsored talks in Abuja on May 5.
”I am calling on the two brothers Abdel Wahid Mohammed al-Nur and Khalil Ibrahim to make a courageous decision and join the peace process,” Sudanese Vice-President Ali Osman Taha said at a press conference.
Nur’s dissident faction of the Sudanese Liberation Movement (SLM) and Ibrahim’s Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) have so far refused to endorse the agreement signed by SLM leader Minni Minnawi.
Taha’s appeal came a day after the AU ratcheted up the pressure on the two movements, warning that it would seek sanctions if they did not sign the agreement by May 31.
Nigerian Foreign Minister Olu Adeinji, speaking for the AU Peace and Security Council, said the pan-African body would request sanctions from the United Nations against the rejectionist movements.
Officials involved in the peace effort have warned Nur he risked becoming ”irrelevant” should he refuse to jump on the peace bandwagon.
But the SLM founder represents the Fur tribe, Darfur’s largest, and has insisted on more concessions from the Sudanese government, which stands accused by Washington of perpetrating genocide in Darfur.
Observers argue that JEM, for its part, is pushing an internal political agenda aimed at destabilising the regime of President Omar al-Beshir.
Officials have warned the Abuja deal would fail to end the more than three-year-old bloodshed if Nur and the JEM did not endorse the peace agreement.
Taha also reiterated his government’s calls on all Darfuris to disarm but did not elaborate on the measures taken to disarm the infamous Janjaweed, a pro-government militia accused of perpetrating genocide.
”We reiterate our call on all people carrying arms in Darfur to respect the ceasefire and cooperate with the government,” he said.
The Sudanese government had promised to start disarming the Janjaweed as of Monday, a process which is due to be completed by mid-October.
Taha, whose regime is under intense US and international pressure to accept a UN contingent to take over from AU peacekeepers, reiterated that such a deployment could only take place at Khartoum’s request.
”Whether the UN are coming or not, it will depend on the government of Sudan. He will be the one to invite them,” he said in English.
Only about 7 000 AU peacekeepers are currently deployed over the vast territory and have failed to quell the violence, that erupted between ethnic minority rebels and government forces in February 2003.
Khartoum had been vehemently opposed to the deployment of UN forces in Darfur but has started to show signs of flexibility, stopping short however of accepting the proposal.
The combined effect of the civil war and famine has left about 300 000 people dead and more than 2,4-million displaced, in what has been described by the United Nations as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
In another gesture, Taha announced on Tuesday that the government would supply displaced people with enough food aid to make up for the halving of food rations by the cash-strapped UN food agency. – Sapa-AFP