AU presses rebels to sign deal
2006-05-15 19:09
Addis Ababa - The African Union has increased the pressure on two Sudanese rebel factions to sign a peace agreement on Darfur, threatening international sanctions if they did not come around.
Only one of the three Darfur rebel factions - the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) - signed a May 5 accord with Khartoum.
The deal would end fighting that has killed tens of thousands of people. Officials fear the two holdouts could instigate violence to scuttle the deal.
On Monday, AU commission head Alpha Oumar Konare urged an SLA faction, led by Abdel Wahed Mohammed al-Nur, and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) to sign the deal unconditionally.
Konare said: "If they embark on any action or measure likely to undermine the Darfur peace agreement, especially the ceasefire provisions, the council should take appropriate measures... including requesting the United Nations security council to impose sanctions against them."
The warning came as the AU's peace and security council met in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to discuss how to push the peace process in Darfur forward.
Nur under pressure to sign
Konare called for more AU troops to be sent to Darfur.
He urged Khartoum to disarm pro-government militias, accused of a campaign of murder and rape that has driven more than two million people into refugee camps in Darfur and neighbouring Chad.
The AU's chief Darfur mediator, Salim Ahmed Salim, warned Nur he would become irrelevant unless he accepted an agreement already signed by his rival, Minni Arcua Minnawi, leader of the biggest SLA faction.
Nur has come under increasing pressure to sign the deal, but has set conditions he says must be met first. He is weak militarily, but represents Darfur's largest Fur tribe.
Nur demands greater Khartoum compensation for Darfur war victims, more political posts for the SLA and greater involvement in the disarmament of pro-government militias.
But his close adviser, Ibrahim Madibo, said Khartoum had already rejected the demands: "We received a response from the Sudanese government and it was not positive enough for us to sign."
'Rich nations must provide funding'
Diplomats said efforts to bring Nur around were likely to continue beyond Monday's original deadline to seal the deal.
The peace agreement has provoked violent protests in Sudan, by refugees who say it is not enough to protect them.
Critics from the Sudanese opposition said the parties were pressured into signing an ill-considered deal.
In an editorial in the Financial Times, UN Secretary-General Koffi Annan said the AU mission should be turned over to the UN as soon as possible. Until then, rich nations must provide immediate funding for the AU forces.
The UN's principal deputy special representative for Sudan, Taye-Brook Zerihoun, said the Addis Abba meeting would focus on providing the AU with a new mandate to monitor the peace deal, and improving logistics before a UN takeover.