FRESH DEADLINE FOR DARFUR REBELS!

Rebel leader Abdel Wahid Nur is unhappy with the peace deal. The African Union (AU) has extended by 14 days a deadline for two of Darfur's smaller rebel groups to sign a peace deal with the Sudanese government. A faction of the Sudanese Liberation Army (SLA) and the Justice and Equality Movement (Jem) will risk UN sanctions if they reject the deal, the AU said. Darfur's biggest rebel group agreed on 5 May to a peace deal aimed at ending three years of conflict with Khartoum. The conflict has killed about 200,000 and created two million refugees. Abdel Wahid Nur, who heads a faction of the SLA, and Khalil Ibrahim, of the Jem, have said they want more concessions from Sudan before they agree to the deal.

AU members said on Monday that they would urge the UN to take action against the smaller rebel groups if they did not meet the new, 31 May deadline. A spokesman for the AU, Nigerian Foreign Minister Olu Adeinji, told the AFP news agency the rebels' failure to sign the deal "will indicate their non-commitment to the peace process".

Darfur's biggest rebel group, the main faction of the SLA, agreed to the deal earlier this month.
The agreement, struck after lengthy negotiations in Nigeria, calls for the disbandment of rebel forces and the disarmament of the pro-government Janjaweed militia.

BBC NEWS REPORT.