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Darfur peace pact remains elusive

Rebel groups reportedly reject proposal for region in Sudan

Sudanese men look through prison bars in Ramle, Israel, as they await a ruling on their refugee status.

• U.S. seeks Darfur deal

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ABUJA, Nigeria -- Talks in Abuja, Nigeria, aimed at producing a peace agreement between the Sudanese government and rebels in the African nation's troubled Darfur region, passed another deadline Friday with no clear indication that they were near success.

The future of the talks was put in further peril Friday when news services reported that two of the three rebel groups battling in Darfur would not sign the peace plan.

The apparent refusal by the groups may jeopardize an accord aimed at resolving a crisis that has cost at least 180,000 lives and has been labeled by the United Nations as the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

Richard Mills, a spokesman for U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick, told CNN the parties were working hard to close their differences.

"We've been in meetings for ... hours," Mills said in a telephone interview. "We are working with the African Union, and the rebel leadership has accepted some proposals and the Sudanese government has accepted some movement."

Mills indicated the talks were ongoing and unlikely to be disbanded.

"It's been challenging, but they do seem to want to reach an agreement, and Secretary Zoellick and our international colleagues have worked for three days and are committed to do whatever they can to help this process," Mills said.

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 Hillary Benn, also have worked with the primary mediator of the talks, the African Union officials, in a small hotel in the Nigerian capital of Abuja.

Deadlines have come and gone, but diplomats insist they are seeing progress.

The fighting in the Darfur region of western Sudan has displaced nearly 2 million people since February 2003, when people in the region rebelled against state authority.

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

The Associated Press reported that Abdelwahid Muhamed El Nur of the main rebel Sudan Liberation Army walked out of the meeting with government officials and negotiators, saying simply: "We are not going to sign."

A second rebel faction, the small Justice and Equality Movement, also earlier said it would not sign the agreement, according to AP.

Ahmed Tugod, chief negotiator for the Justice and Equality Movement, told The Associated Press that the main sticking point was his rebels' demand for the post of second vice president.

"We decided not to sign it unless changes are made," he said. Negotiations dragged on for hours past a midnight deadline in an effort to get the Sudan government and three rebel factions to agree to the peace plan

The Sudanese government agreed to the initial proposal and has shown increasing flexibility since the United States and Britain sent top envoys to join the talks in Nigeria's capital.

Revisions to the peace plan made available to AP 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 initial proposal mentioned no figures.

The new deal also would provide for rebels to comprise 33 percent of all newly integrated battalions nationwide, and 50 percent in areas to be agreed, notably Darfur.

Zuma said Wednesday his government had considered integrating no more than 100 rebels into the armed forces, and he expected a final agreement to rest somewhere between that figure and the proposed 4,000.

CNN's Susan Garraty contributed to this report.

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