 A Darfur rebel faction is reconsidering its rejection of a peace deal signed by the Sudanese government and the main rebel group this month.
| Time to hop on the bandwagon and be virtuous. Lots of time later to ignore the agreement... |
Abd al-Wahid al-Nur, leader of one faction of the Sudan Liberation Army, rejected the peace agreement signed on May 5 between the government and Minnin Arcua Minnawi, the rival SLA leader. However on Thursday, Nur said he had written to Salim Ahmed Salim, the African Union negotiator, asking to reopen discussions with the government. He also said he would sign the agreement if a list of demands were addressed in another document. "We are ready to sign if there's a supplementary document ... we did this because we want to avoid chaos in Darfur," he said.
| "We're special. We want two agreements!" |
He said his demands were more compensation from the Sudanese government for Darfur, greater political representation for his group and more involvement in implementing a ceasefire and disarmament programme. Alpha Oumar Konare, the African Union Commission chairman, confirmed that an approach had been made by Nur's faction. "There are no perfect solutions. [We must have] a compromise with guarantees that can improve the solution and that is the only way we can move forward," he said. |