ABUJA, 7 May 2006 — World leaders have given a cautious welcome to a peace deal signed by the Sudanese government and the main rebel faction in the northern African nation’s devastated region of Darfur. The deal was signed here on Friday by representatives of Khartoum and the main faction of the Sudanese Liberation Movement, led by Minna Minnawi, in the presence of the peace talks host Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and mediators. But another rebel group, the Justice and Equality Movement, and a smaller faction of the divided SLM, led by Abdelwahid Al-Nur, refused to sign saying they would not accept the United Nations-sponsored deal.
UN chief Kofi Annan welcomed the landmark deal but urged the two other insurgent groups to sign as well. “I welcomed the agreement and urged the other two parties to seize this historic moment and sign the agreement that will bring this tragic chapter in the history of Sudan to an end,” he told reporters at the United Nations.
The United States echoed those sentiments, hailing the peace accord as a “significant step” but saying more efforts are needed to end the fighting. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak welcomed the signing of the agreement but urged the other parties to sign. “Egypt welcomes the signing of the peace deal last night by the Khartoum government and the Sudan Liberation Movement, and calls on all Darfur delegates to sign the agreement,” a statement from the presidency said in Cairo. Egypt also called on “all parties involved to implement (the agreement) in good faith ... to fulfill the higher interests of Sudan and the interests of its citizens.”
