African heavyweights press Darfur rebels to sign on to peace

African leaders including the head of the African Union were flying into the Nigerian capital Abuja on Wednesday to press rebels fighting in Sudan’s troubled Darfur region to sign up to peace. AU mediators granted a second 48-hour extension to a proposed peace deal as a Tuesday night deadline passed without accord. The factions now have until midnight Thursday to thrash out an agreement. Denis Sassou-Nguesso, the president of Republic of Congo and current head of the 53-nation AU, was due on Wednesday along with other officials expected to add their weight to the mediation team before the day is out, according to AU officials. While Khartoum had said it was ready to sign off on the AU’s 85-page compromise peace accord by midnight (2300 GMT) on Tuesday, rebels from the Sudanese Liberation Army (SLA) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) held fast on security concessions and power-sharing demands. Intense diplomacy from US Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick and Britain’s Development Secretary Hilary Benn failed to break the deadlock.