ABUJA, May 6: Hopes rose for peace in the devastated Sudanese region of Darfur on Friday when the government and the main rebel faction signed a peace deal for the region, although other rebel groups still refused.

The deal was signed by representatives of Khartoum and the main faction of the Sudanese Liberation Movement (SLM), led by Minna Minnawi, in the presence of the peace talks host, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, and mediators.

But another rebel group, the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), and a smaller faction of the divided SLM refused to sign, saying they would not accept the United Nations-sponsored deal.

Senior international envoys, including United States Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick and British Development Secretary Hilary Benn, had travelled to Abuja warning that failure to reach an agreement could also aggravate the fragile humanitarian situation in Sudan.

Several deadlines came and went as the Western diplomats fine-tuned the draft deal, pressing the government to provide better guarantees that it would disarm the Janjaweed Arab militia and recruit former rebels into the national armed forces.

The JEM and a smaller SLM faction, led by Abdelwahid Al Nur, refused to sign, saying the proposal still failed to answer demands that Darfur’s three states be united into a single autonomous region.

But Al Nur’s chief negotiator, Abdurahman Moussa, and 15 other members of his delegation, later broke ranks to side with the main SLM movement.

“We had to take this step and come forward to encourage peace and alleviate the sufferings of our people in Darfur, this is the desire of the movement,” said Mr Moussa.

A member of the US delegation later said ‘over half’ of Al Nur’s forces had had signed a letter saying they would abide by the text.—AFP