ABUJA, Nigeria (ABP) — Although the Sudanese government and the main rebel group in the nation's troubled Darfur region signed a peace treaty May 5, international representatives were still working May 9 to keep the deal from falling apart.
Cracks have emerged in the lead rebel group, the Sudan Liberation Army. The group's leader, Minni Minnawi, signed the initial peace treaty. But the leader of a rival faction within the group announced May 9 he is still opposed to the deal, despite entreaties from international leaders.
According to Reuters, Abdel Mohammed al-Nur said the accord was inadequate to address the concerns Darfurians have with the Arab-dominated Sudanese government in the capital of Khartoum. “The agreement addresses humanitarian and military issues but not the political issues that are the root cause of the conflict,” the news agency quoted him as saying.
A smaller Darfurian rebel group, the Justice and Equality Movement, has also refused to agree to the deal.
In addition, one of Minnawi's former top advisers, Ibrahim Ahmed Ibrahim, reportedly broke ranks with the rebel leader May 9, saying Minnawi had signed the agreement without the full support of all the Sudan Liberation Army's leaders. “We have many bodies in the SLA to make a decision, but Minni made his decision alone and under too much pressure,” Ibrahim told Reuters.
While Ibrahim is based in London and reportedly does not command any troops, his dissent will make it more difficult for Minnawi to get Darfurians to accept the treaty.
The unrest in the province was evident May 8, when a mob of Darfurians attacked and beat to death a Sudanese translator working for the African Union.
Darfur, a large, arid province on the western side of the war-torn nation, has suffered for more than three years as the result of a civil war between the rebel groups — made up mostly of black African residents — and Sudanese Arab militias, known as janjaweed.
The janajaweed — which most international human-rights groups agree have been backed by the Arab-led Sudan government — have repeatedly murdered large groups of black Darfurians, burned farms and villages, and committed other atrocities in parts of the province determined to be disloyal to the central Sudanese government.
Human-rights agencies estimate that 100,000 to 300,000 Darfurians have died, and between 1 million and 2 million more have been forced into exile. Many of those are subjected to inhumane conditions at refugee camps within Darfur itself or in neighboring Chad.
Both the black Darfurians and the Sudanese Arabs are overwhelmingly Muslim. The rebel groups have complained that the Arab-led Islamist government in Khartoum ignores the needs of the region's black residents and denies them equal political representation or their fair share of the nation's oil and other natural resources.
Approximately 6,500 African Union troops have been attempting, with little success, to act as peacekeepers in the region. Many Western organizations and government officials have called for the United Nations, NATO or American forces to augment the beleaguered African Union troops.
In the West, Christian, Jewish and Muslim religious groups have been in the lead urging their political leaders to take bolder steps to end what most Western leaders have agreed is ongoing genocide.
Both Minnawi and Nur have said they will remain in Abuja, Nigeria — where the treaty was crafted after months-long peace talks — for several more days to continue negotiations.
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