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Sudan Peace Plan Gains Ground

A top U.S. envoy says Sudan`s government and the largest Darfur rebel group has agreed to sign a peace plan, marking major progress in an internationally backed effort to end the death and destruction in western Sudan. Two smaller rebel groups are still resisting, but U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick says acceptance by faction leader Minni Minnawi is key in negotiations.

At least 180,000 people have been killed and more than 2 million forced to flee their homes in what the United Nations has called one of the world`s worst humanitarian crises. The Darfur conflict erupted in February 2003 and has spilled into Chad and Central African Republic.

The Nur faction and the Justice and Equality Movement walked out of negotiations in the Nigerian capital before dawn Friday. But with the government and the Minnawi faction of the Sudanese Liberation Movement in agreement, Zoellick says the next step will be to organize a U.N. peacekeeping force for Darfur.