Rebels Threaten to Withdraw Peace Deal

Former Darfur rebel leader Minni Minawi in his house in Khartoum, the Sudanese capital, on Tuesday Dec 5 2006. Minawi, who heads a main branch of the Sudan Liberation Movement, was the only rebel leader to sign the Darfur Peace Agreement with the Sudanese government in May to end three years of Darfur violence that have killed over 200,000 people. The peace deal has all but collapsed, and Minawi in an AP interview Tuesday set an ultimatum for the government to disarm its janjaweed militia by December. (AP Photo/ Alfred de Montesquiou) (Alfred De Montesquiou - AP)

KHARTOUM, Sudan -- The only Darfur rebel group to sign a peace agreement with the government threatened Tuesday to pull out from the deal if Khartoum-backed militias continue to attack civilians in the troubled region.

The ultimatum from Minni Minawi, head of the main branch of the Sudan Liberation Movement, came a day after the pro-government janjaweed paramilitary looted the central market in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, and clashed with SLM fighters, killing at least two.

The United Nations evacuated staff and international aid workers from El Fasher "as a result of increased janjaweed presence in the town and armed movements in the area," said Radhia Achouri, the spokeswoman for the U.N. mission in Sudan.

African Union peacekeepers warned that El Fasher could be attacked within the next day, saying they had reports that a coalition of rebel groups planned to launch an offensive to drive the janjaweed out of the town.

The AU force in Darfur said its headquarters _ located in El Fasher _ "could be a target" of the possible rebel attack.

The Khartoum government is accused of unleashing the janjaweed militias, made up of Arab nomads, to help put down ethnic African Darfur rebels who rose up in 2003. The janjaweed are blamed in widespread atrocities against civilians.

More than 200,000 people have been killed in Darfur and another 2.5 million have been driven from their homes. Violence has only increased since the government and the SLM signed the Darfur Peace Agreement in May, which other rebel groups refused to accept.

"The government must disarm and neutralize the janjaweed by the end of this month," Minawi told The Associated Press. "Otherwise a bridge will be crossed, and no one knows what will happen," he said.

He did not say what steps the SLM would take if the government did not meet the deadline, but his spokesman suggested the group could pull out of the Darfur peace deal _ a step that could lead to the collapse of the fragile agreement on which the United Nations and others have pinned hopes for bringing peace to the region.

The African Union warned that the National Redemption Front, a coalition of rebels who rejected the peace accord, was reportedly planning an assault on El Fasher along with other factions including some of Minawi's men.

Khartoum has opposed a U.N.-brokered deal for a joint mission of some 20,000 U.N. and African peacekeepers to deploy in Darfur.

The government denies backing the janjaweed, but agreed to disarm them as part of the Darfur peace accord. Observers however, say Khartoum instead reinforced the militia.

Top U.N. officials say janjaweed backed by the army have recently increased their attacks throughout Darfur and are specifically targeting civilians, including children.