Khartoum's negotiator Magzoub Al-Khalifa (R) and SLA leader Minnawi shake hands after signing the agreement. (Reuters)

NEW YORK/ABUJA, May 6, 2006 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – The peace deal signed late Friday, May 5, by the Sudanese government and the main rebel group Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) to end a bloody three-year civil war in Darfur has been given a cautious welcome by the parties concerned as the leaders of two other separatist groups are still opposing to the hard-won agreement.

"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," UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said at the UN headquarters, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The United States welcomed the deal as a "significant step," but warned that violence cannot end "overnight."

"This agreement is a significant step in a long process to bring peace to all the people of Darfur," the White House said in a statement.

"We urge Khalil Ibrahim of the Justice and Equality Movement and Abdul Wahid Al-Nur of the SLM to join the peace process," it added.

US Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick, who flew to the troubled region in a desperate attempt to save the day after rebel intransigence, said a lot of work is still to be done to bring peace to Darfur despite the landmark deal.

"Darfur is going to remain a dangerous place and it's going to remain a place of violence."

Britain also welcomed the peace deal, saying that the process of bringing peace to Darfur can now begin.

"This is the first step towards ending the truly terrible suffering of the people of Darfur, so many of whom have lost their lives, and with a further two million people forced from their homes," he said.

Representatives of the Khartoum government and SLA leader Minna Minnawi signed the peace deal in the Nigerian capital Abuja, the venue of on and off peace talks over the past two years under the auspices of the African Union (AU).

The Darfur conflict flared up in February 2003, when rebels took up arms against Khartoum, complaining of discrimination, oppression and marginalization.

The United Nations maintains that the Darfur conflict is causing the world’s worst humanitarian crisis at present, estimating that at least 180,000 people have died from fighting, hunger and disease.

More than two million civilians have fled their homes to refugee camps in neighboring countries like Chad.

Rejectionists

Zoellick warned that violence will not end overnight in Darfur despite the peace deal.

But the smaller rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) group and the leader of a smaller faction of the SLA, Abdelwahid Al-Nur, rejected the deal.

They argue that the proposal still failed to answer demands that Darfur's three states be united into a single autonomous region.

But Al-Nur's chief negotiator, Abdurahman Moussa, and 15 other members of his delegation, later broke ranks to side with the main SLM movement.

"We had to take this step and come forward to encourage peace and alleviate the sufferings of our people in Darfur, this is the desire of the movement," AFP quoted Moussa as saying.

A member of the US delegation later said "over half" of Al-Nur's forces had signed a letter saying they would abide by the text.

"His (Al-Nur's) support is fast dissipating. This is the future of Darfur and people are realizing it and they don't want to be left behind," the US delegate added.

Congo president Dennis Sassou-Nguesso, the current AU president, said the organization would not close its doors on the rebels who were refusing to sign the agreement.

"I believe that the train has taken off, it has just left the station and it's making progress. We will not close the coaches for our brothers who have not joined the bandwagon so that they can join in the next station," he said.

Diplomats told Reuters it was most important to persuade Minnawi to sign as he controls more SLA fighters than Al-Nur, while JEM is marginal in terms of forces on the ground.

Nevertheless, Zoellick, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and other leaders and diplomats tried until the last minute to coax Al-Nur into signing, delaying the ceremony by several hours.

Several deadlines came and went over the past few days as an international team of diplomats led by Zoellick fine-tuned the draft deal.

The amended deal, which was also accepted by Khartoum, offers a referendum in the region, and obliges the government to disarm and neutralize the Janjaweed militia by mid-October 2006.

It also provides for the rebel movements to be represented in the Sudanese government, and creates a fund for the reconstruction of Darfur.

(Click to Read Highlights of the Peace Deal)

International Force

Annan said the international community must now to "really move very quickly to have the right impact on the ground."

Annan was also quick to push Sudan on letting UN planners begin preparing for a peacekeeping mission in Darfur after the signing of the long-delayed peace agreement.

Annan said the international community must now "really move very quickly to have the right impact on the ground," Reuters reported.

The Khartoum government has opposed inviting in UN troops, saying it would consider that only after a peace deal was reached. It has refused even to let in a UN planning team to assess needs on the ground.

"Now is the time for them to allow the assessment mission to go in, for us to move expeditiously, and I do intend to be in touch with the Sudanese authorities precisely on this point," Annan told reporters.

An African Union force that now numbers about 7,000 peacekeepers has been enforcing a shaky cease-fire since 2004 in Darfur.

Sudan's deputy UN ambassador, Omar Manis, could not say whether Khartoum would now welcome the UN team, and ultimately a UN peacekeeping force..

"As an ambassador, I am not in a position to say yes or no," Manis said.

The US is leading a western drive to replace the AU troops with UN peacekeepers, a matter slammed by Khartoum as a pretext to internationalize the problem.

Zoellick said Washington had asked Rwanda to send an extra 1,200 troops to Darfur immediately to strengthen the thinly stretched AU force until the arrival of UN troops.