AU extends Darfur peace deadline by 48 hours after rebels refuse to sign

The African Union (AU) deferred an April 30 deadline for rival parties in Sudan’s Darfur conflict to agree peace after rebels expressed “reservations” about the draft deal and refused to sign. The Sudanese government delegation said on Sunday it would sign the draft comprehensive agreement presented to the rival sides four days earlier. But the rebel Sudanese Liberation Army (SLA) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) declined to give assent, saying key demands had yet to be met. “The AU has extended the deadline of the peace talks by 48 hours as requested by the United States and other international partners to enable extensive consultations to go ahead,” said Salim Ahmed Salim, AU special envoy on the Darfur crisis, as eleventh hour talks closed just after midnight. Salim had described the draft agreement as he presented it to the parties on Wednesday as “just and honourable for all the parties”. The 85-page draft agreement does not provide for the appointment of a vice president from Darfur as demanded by the rebels. But it does meet a key rebel demand to revert the borders of the western Sudanese region to where they were at independence in 1956, after which parts of the region were excised by successive governments and added to northern Sudan. If the rival parties sign the draft agreement, a Transitional Darfur Regional Authority (TDRA), to be controlled by the SLA and JEM rebels, will be created. It will be headed by a senior special assistant to the president and will have governors of the three Darfur states as members, with responsibility for implementing the peace agreement. “The permanent status of Darfur shall be determined through a referendum held simultaneously in the three states of Darfur,” according to the draft agreement. The Darfur conflict erupted in February 2003 when the two main rebel groups, the SLA and the JEM, took up arms to fight what they called the discrimination and oppression of the region by the Sudanese government. The government is accused of unleashing militia - known as the Janjawid - on civilians in an attempt to quash the rebellion. Some 3.3 million people continue to be affected by the conflict, according to the UN, of whom 1.8 million have been internally displaced and 200,000 have fled to neighbouring Chad. The AU had late last month set the end of April as the deadline to end protracted negotiations after nearly two years of periodic talks between the rival parties. The United Nations Security Council later backed the deadline, saying it would hold accountable those found to be obstructing the agreement of a final peace deal.