Darfur's most heavily armed rebel group, the Justice and Equality Movement, said on Saturday that it had signed a framework agreement with the Sudanese government in Chad that provides for a cease-fire. Soon afterwards, Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir announced that he was quashing death sentences handed down by the courts against some 100 JEM fighters for their parts in an unprecedented rebel assault on the capital Khartoum in May 2008.
"We have just initially signed the framework agreement," JEM spokesman Ahmed Hussein told AFP by telephone from the Chadian capital Ndjamena. "We will discuss of many issues - return of the IDPs (internally displaced persons), power and wealth sharing, compensation, detainees," he said, speaking in English.
"We are committed to a peaceful solution for Darfur," he added. JEM leader "Dr Khalil (Ibrahim) asks to our force to stop" military operations. A statement from the Chadian presidency said the agreement came after talks sponsored by President Idriss Deby Itno and led to "an immediate cease-fire and the start of negotiations for its application on the ground."
On Friday, the Sudanese president had promised "good news" about Darfur, adding that an agreement with the JEM would end the devastating seven-year conflict in the troubled western region which has claimed some 300,000 lives and left 2.7 million refugees, according to UN figures.
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