Sudan, March 18, 2010: The Sudanese government has signed a framework peace accord with a small Darfur rebel group, officials have said.

The three-month ceasefire agreement, signed with the Liberation and Justice Movement (LJM) on Thursday in Doha, the Qatari capital, came as talks with the larger Justice and Equality Movement (Jem) stalled.

Ali Osman Taha, the Sudanese vice-president who attended the signing of the Qatari-sponsored agreement, said: “This is an important step which will give momentum to peace efforts in Darfur.”

Qatar has been mediating between various Darfur groups and the government in Khartoum with a view to finding a lasting peace in Sudan’s western region.

Scott Gration, the US envoy to Sudan, urged all parties to the Darfur conflict to seize the “little window” for a peace agreement before presidential, parliamentary and state elections next month.

“If we can get a jump on a Darfur peace agreement, then we should, because there’s going to be a lot of things keeping us from focusing on Darfur,” Gration told reporters in Nairobi last week before he travelled to Doha.

“The framework agreement “has to be turned into a more formalised agreement … If there is going to be a comprehensive and lasting peace in Darfur, all rebel groups need to be involved.”

The conflict in Darfur has pitched ethnic African tribesmen against the Arab-dominated Khartoum government, claiming up to 300,000 lives - from the fighting as well as famine and disease - and displacing 2.7 million people, according to the UN.

Sudan, whose president Omar al-Bashir has been indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) over war crimes in Darfur, disputes the toll and says only 10,000 have died.