Darfur rebels sign deal with Sudan opposition party

By Andrew Heavens

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Darfur rebels signed an accord with one of Sudan's main opposition parties in Cairo on Wednesday, agreeing to push for a new transitional government, both sides said on Friday, a move that will infuriate Khartoum.

The rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), which attacked Khartoum last year, and the opposition Umma party told Reuters the deal was a "declaration of principles" and shared ideas and did not amount to a political or military alliance.

But the sight of Umma, led by Sudan's last democratically elected Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi, sitting with insurgents will be deeply unsettling to Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, currently beset by a string of political crises.

JEM commander Suleiman Sandal told Reuters the group would continue its struggle against Khartoum, but was also interested in finding ways to unseat the government through politics. "We agreed that our country is in danger with many problems, and that those problems should have a national solution," he said.

"We are still separate organisations. We are working to achieve one strategic target, but there are differences in means. The one target is to work against the government."

The agreement comes almost 20 years to the day after Bashir overthrew Mahdi's government in a bloodless coup in 1989.

A new government would be include all political groups in Sudan, including Bashir's National Congress Party and Darfur's main armed groups, to pave the way for delayed elections, JEM and Umma said.

Sudan is led by a north-south coalition government set up in the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended more than two decades of civil war between the country's Muslim north and its mainly Christian south.