sh.

[58] Despite improved security, talks between the various rebels in the Darfur region progressed
slowly.
An attack on the Chadian town of Adré near the Sudanese border led to the death of 300 rebels
in December. Sudan was blamed for the attack, which was the second in the region in three
days.[59] Escalating tensions led the government of Chad to declare its hostility toward Sudan and
to call for Chadians to mobilise against the "common enemy".[60] (See Chad-Sudan conflict)

2006[edit]
Main article: Darfur Peace Agreement

Minni Minnawi with U.S. President George W. Bush after he signed the May agreement.

On 5 May 2006, the Sudanese government signed the Darfur Peace Agreement[61] along with the
faction of the SLA led by Minni Minnawi. However, the agreement was rejected by the
smaller Justice and Equality Movement and a rival faction of the SLA led by Abdul Wahid al Nur.
[34][62]
 The accord was orchestrated by chief negotiator Salim Ahmed Salim (working on behalf of
the African Union), U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert B. Zoellick, AU representatives and
other foreign officials operating in Abuja, Nigeria.
The 115-page agreement included agreements on national and state power-sharing,
demilitarization of the Janjaweed and other militias, an integration of SLM/A and JEM troops into
the Sudanese Armed Forces and police, a system of federal wealth-sharing for the promotion of
Darfurian economic interests, a referendum on the future status of Darfur and measures to
promote the flow of humanitarian aid.[34][63]
Representatives of the African Union, Nigeria, Libya, the US, the UK, the UN, the EU, the Arab
League, Egypt, Canada, Norway and the Netherlands served as witnesses.[34]
July and August 2006 saw renewed fighting, international aid organizations considering leaving
due to attacks against their personnel. Annan called for 18,000 international peacekeepers in
Darfur to replace the 7,000-man AMIS force.[64][65] In one incident at Kalma, seven women, who
ventured out of a refugee camp to gather firewood, were gang-raped, beaten and robbed by the
Janjaweed. When they had finished, the attackers stripped them naked and jeered at them as
they fled.[66]
In a private meeting on 18 August, Hédi Annabi, Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping
Operations, warned that Sudan appeared to be preparing for a major military offensive.[67] The
warning came a day after UN Commission on Human Rights special investigator Sima
Samar stated that Sudan's efforts remained poor despite the May Agreement.[68] On 19 August,
Sudan reiterated its opposition to replacing AMIS with a UN force,[69] resulting in the US issuing a
"threat" to Sudan over the "potential consequences".[70]
On 25 August, Sudan rejected attending a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) meeting to
explain its plan to send 10,000 Sudanese soldiers to Darfur instead of the proposed 20,000 UN
peacekeeping force.[71] The Security Council announced it would hold the meeting despite
Sudan's absence.[72] Also on 24 August, the International Rescue Committee reported that
hundreds of women were raped and sexually assaulted around the Kalma refugee camp during
the previous several weeks[73] and that the Janjaweed were reportedly using rape to cause
women to be humiliated and ostracised by their own communities.[74] On 25 August, the head of
the U.S. State Department's Bureau of African Affairs, Assistant Secretary Jendayi Frazer,
warned that the region faced a security crisis unless the UN peacekeeping force deployed.[75]
On 26 August, two days before the UNSC meeting and Frazer was due to arrive in Khartoum,
Paul Salopek, a U.S. National Geographic Magazine journalist, appeared in court in Darfur facing
charges of espionage; he had crossed into the country illegally from Chad, circumventing the
Sudanese government's official restrictions on foreign journalists. He was later released after
direct negotiation with President al-Bashir.[76] This came a month after Tomo Križnar,
a Slovenian presidential envoy, was sentenced to two years in prison for spying.[77]
Proposed UN peacekeeping force[edit]
See also: United Nations Security Council Resolution 1706
On 31 August 2006, the UNSC approved a resolution to send a new peacekeeping force of
17,300 to the region.[78] Sudan expressed strong opposition to the resolution. [79] On 1 September,
African Union officials reported that Sudan had launched a major offensive in Darfur, killing more
than 20 people and displacing over 1,000.[80] On 5 September, Sudan asked the existing AU force
to leave by the end of the month, adding that "they have no right to transfer this assignment to
the United Nations or any other party. This right rests with the government of Sudan."[81] On 4
September, in a move not viewed as surprising, Chad's president Idriss Déby voiced support for
the UN peacekeeping force.[82] The AU, whose mandate expired on 30 September 2006,
confirmed that AMIS would leave.[83] The nex