Sudan To Sign Ceasefire Deal With Darfur Rebel Group

Sudan's president is due to sign a ceasefire with Darfur rebel group, the Justice and Equality Movement (Jem). Omar al-Bashir will sign a framework agreement which includes an outline deal on power sharing "at all levels". It is being seen as an important step towards peace, though the other main rebel group has refused to enter talks. But Jem was reported to have warned that it was unlikely to sign a final peace accord by mid-March, ahead of a national election. "After the agreement is signed, the rest will come through more negotiations," Adrees Mahmoud, a Europe-based representative of the group said, according to Reuters. He added that it was too early to say if the target of a final binding agreement by March - one of the clauses of the ceasefire deal would be met. Mr Bashir is due to sign the accord in Qatar, where it was brokered in negotiations by neighbouring Chad. Sudan says Chad has backed and armed Jem. According to the text of the accord, obtained by the BBC, the rebel group will constitute a political party after the signing of a final agreement. The text also specifies that changes in the administration of the Darfur region will form part of the final accord and that death sentences imposed on 100 Jem fighters will be cancelled. The BBC's James Copnall, in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, says the deal is a major breakthrough. The power-sharing agreement, our correspondent adds, has shaken the political establishment. Two years ago, the Darfur rebel group took its fight to the heart of the country, attacking the city of Omdurman, where parliament sits. The government said that more than 200 people were killed in the attack and sentenced more than 100 Jem fighters to death by hanging for their involvement. The seven-year war between forces loyal to the government and rebels in Darfur has lost intensity in recent years. But the UN estimates 300,000 died in the worst years of the conflict. Some 2.5 million people are still displaced.