The Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has signed a peace deal with one of the main rebel factions in Darfur. The signing happened in the Qatari capital, Doha, where negotiations on Darfur have been taking place. The United Nations says 300,000 people have been killed in the Darfur civil war, but President Bashir disputes this. From the Sudanese capital Khartoum, James Copnall reports.
The Justice and Equality Movement is perhaps the strongest military force among the Darfur rebel groups. Two years ago, it attacked Omdurman, the city just over the Nile River from the capital Khartoum. Now it has agreed to a ceasefire and signed a framework agreement for future talks. According to an early version of the deal seen by the BBC, the Sudanese authorities have agreed that JEM should participate in government at every level. Both sides have agreed to sign a final agreement by March 15th.
Iran says it's captured a top Sunni militant Abdolmalek Rigi, whose group Jundullah is blamed for a string of deadly attacks. He’s said to have been on a flight from Dubai to Central Asia when his plane was ordered to land in Iran. Television pictures showed him being escorted off an aircraft by masked security men.
World News from the BBC.
The Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has said Israel's stated intention to include sites in the occupied West Bank in an Israeli national heritage plan is a dangerous provocation. Addressing the Belgian parliament in Brussels, he said the move could lead to a religious war between Jews and Muslims. On Sunday the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he intended to add several sites in the Palestinian territory to an Israeli development plan for what he called “the glory of the Jewish people”.