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| Africa Horn |
| AU presses rebels to sign Darfur deal |
| 2006-05-16 |
| The African Union ratcheted up the pressure on two rebel factions on Monday to sign a peace deal for Sudan's Darfur region, threatening international sanctions if they did not endorse it. Only one of the three Darfur rebel factions signed a May 5 accord with Khartoum to end fighting that has killed tens of thousands of people, and officials fear the two holdouts could instigate violence to scuttle the deal. Alpha Oumar Konare, chairman of the African Union (AU) commission, urged a faction of the rebel Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) led by Abdel Wahed Mohammad Nur and the smaller Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) to sign the deal unconditionally. "Should they embark on any action or measure likely to undermine the Darfur peace agreement, especially the ceasefire provisions, the [AU] should take appropriate measures ... including requesting the UN Security Council to impose sanctions against them," he said in a statement. The warning came as the AU's Peace and Security Council met in Addis Ababa to discuss how to push forward the peace process in Darfur, which UN Secretary General Kofi Annan says is the world's worst humanitarian crisis. Konare called for more AU troops to be sent to Darfur and urged Khartoum to produce a plan to disarm pro-government Janjaweed militias accused of a campaign of murder and rape that has driven more than two million people into camps in Darfur and neighbouring Chad. |
| Posted by:Fred |