(AFP) – 18 hours ago

DOHA — The Sudanese government and the rebel Liberty and Justice Movement agreed Thursday on a ceasefire, following on from a framework deal reached in March, a Qatari mediator said.

The deal was signed by Khartoum representative Amin Hassan Omar and LMJ chief Tijani Sese, according to Ahmed Al-Mahmud, Qatari minister of state for foreign affairs.

The LJM, recently formed, enjoys little backing on the ground in the war-torn Sudanese region. It is the only rebel faction so far in talks with Sudan's government in the Qatari capital, from which two leading figures of the seven-year rebellion, Khalil Ibrahim and Abdelwahid Nur, have been absent.

Mahmud said the "Doha process is open to all. We will continue to invite Brother Abdelwahid to join with Khalil Ibrahim and return to the negotiating table.

He said he hoped this would lead to a "resolution that will satisfy all the concerned parties in Darfur."

Unlike Ibrahim's Justice and Equality Movement, which agreed a ceasefire with Khartoum in February that soon disintegrated in new fighting, the LJM has no military presence and commands little loyalty in the region.

The United Nations says up to 300,000 people have died since the conflict broke out in Darfur in 2003, when ethnic minority rebels took up arms against the Arab-dominated regime for a greater share of resources and power. Khartoum says 10,000 people have died