Darfur peace deal brings new hope

Two of three main rebel groups refuse to sign agreement

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ABUJA, Nigeria (CNN) -- The main rebel group in Sudan's strife-torn Darfur region signed a peace agreement Friday aimed at ending the violence that has spawned what the United Nations calls the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

A spokesman for the Sudan Liberation Movement, the rebel group which signed the agreement after talks in Abuja, Nigeria, said the group still has concerns over whether Khartoum is ready to share power, but said it is time for everyone to make peace.

Two other rebel groups would not take part in the signing.

"We just need some few hours a week so we can sit down and talk to our colleagues from the other parties, and I believe we will go forward," said the spokesman, Seif Eldin Haruon.

The United Nations says 180,000 people have died from illness and malnutrition since rebels began attacking in February of 2003, and some 2 million have been forced from their homes.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick, who's attending the talks, told The Associated Press on Friday that participation by Minni Minnawi, who leads the largest rebel group, has been key.

The deal reportedly includes disbanding of the government-backed Arab "janjaweed" militias. The militias are blamed for killing and raping villagers and burning villages of mostly black Africans.

The United States has branded the situation in Darfur a genocide.

Fighting has also spilled into Chad and the Central African Republic.

U.N. High Commissioner of Human Rights Louise Arbour, who spent part of this week in the Darfur region, welcomed the news of the accord.

"It can only be excellent news, I think, for the people of Darfur, particularly for the large number of displaced persons who've been living in terribly harsh conditions," Arbour said. "I see the major opening of a promising door, but we still have a long way to go before they, the internationally displaced persons, start seeing the benefits of the these negotiations."

She added, "We've seen a continuation and an escalation of actual attacks on civilian population," particularly of "rape and sexual violence against women who have to leave the perimeters of camp."

One senior U.S. official told CNN that "the most important thing is getting peacekeepers on the ground," which could happen as early as September, and this peace agreement is a step in that direction.

Revisions to the peace plan made available to The Associated Press called for 4,000 rebels to be integrated into Sudan's armed forces and another 1,000 into the police force. In addition, 3,000 rebels would be given training and education at military colleges.

The proposed agreement reported Thursday by AP also would provide for rebels to make up 33 percent of all newly integrated battalions nationwide, and 50 percent in areas to be agreed, notably Darfur.

Passing deadlines

The initial deadline for the peace talks was Sunday at midnight, but the African Union has extended it twice for 48-hour periods, with the last deadline passing at midnight Thursday.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice dispatched Zoellick to the talks earlier this week, tasking him with "shaking the trees" to produce an agreement.

Western diplomats, including British International Development Secretary Hilary Benn, also have worked with the primary mediator of the talks, the African Union officials, in a small hotel in the Nigerian capital.

CNN's Jeff Koinange in Abuja, Nigeria, Nic Robertson in Khartoum, Sudan, and Susan Garraty in Washington contributed to this report.