Rebels Say Draft Peace Accord on Darfur Is Not Yet Acceptable

ABUJA, Nigeria, April 28 -- Rebels from the Darfur region of western Sudan are dissatisfied with a proposed peace settlement, rebel leaders said Friday, as global pressure built for them to strike a deal with the Sudanese government by a Sunday deadline.

Mediators from the African Union have proposed a draft agreement aimed at ending a three-year-old conflict that has left tens of thousands of people dead and forced 2 million to flee to refugee camps in Darfur and neighboring Chad. The draft addresses security, power-sharing and the division of wealth.

Several rebel leaders said they would be unable to meet the African Union's Sunday deadline for concluding the talks, which have dragged on for two years in Nigerian capital of Abuja.

"The deadline of April 30 is impossible because we need time. . . . Our rights must be in the document or else we will not accept it," said Abdel Wahed Mohammed al-Nur, who heads a faction in the Sudan Liberation Army.

The government, by contrast, issued an upbeat assessment of the prospects for a deal.

"The A.U. proposal is a good framework for the upcoming settlement," Sudan's Vice President Ali Osman Mohamed Taha said after a meeting with Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo.

The African Union's chief mediator, Salim Ahmed Salim, said he was not certain whether the rebels would finally agree to sign the deal.

"It's difficult to say," he said. "I think within the movements there are some who recognize this is a unique opportunity for them. I hope they don't make the mistake of letting it go."

The rebels say their main problem with the draft is that it does not meet their demands for a regional government and for a new Darfur vice president in the national government.

The rebels took up arms in early 2003 over what they saw as neglect by the Arab-dominated government. They accuse the government of using proxy Arab militias, called the Janjaweed, to crush them. The government denies the allegation.

Meanwhile, the U.N. World Food Program said Friday it would cut food rations for more than 6 million people in Sudan, half of them in Darfur, because of a lack of funds.

Donor countries appear to have grown tired of the conflict, despite signs that malnutrition is on the rise among people living in the squalid refugee camps, the agency said. The cuts were imposed after the agency received only 32 percent of its annual appeal for $746 million for Sudan.