With violence continuing in western Sudan's Darfur region, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan Monday called on the international community and the Sudanese to ensure that a framework peace agreement is negotiated in the Nigerian capital of Abuja by the end of next month.

"A further deterioration of the situation can be averted only by rapidly consolidating the progress made at the sixth round of talks in Abuja," Annan said in his latest monthly report to the Security Council.

To achieve a political solution, the Sudanese and the international community must work toward laying the groundwork for a seventh round of peace talks in Abuja, which should be the final round, Annan said.

"It is crucial that a framework peace agreement be concluded before the end of the year," he noted. "Second, it is imperative that, in coordination with the Sudanese parties, the international community immediately begin to plan the program and assistance that will be necessary to ensure the successful implementation of any peace agreement reached at the negotiating table in Abuja."

The critical elements of a coordinated approach should include repairing the rift in the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A), which had serious engagements with government forces in October, the UN chief stressed.

Meanwhile, he said, the African Union's mediating team and the Sudanese parties should intensify their consultations on the power-sharing commission proposed for Khartoum and the rebels.

"Talks outside of this framework, where some of the parties are excluded, will never lead to any sustainable agreements," he warned.

The Darfur conflict, which flared up in early 2003, has claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people and driven more than 1.8 million others from their homes. Darfur, abutting Chad, is an impoverished and isolated region the size of France in west Sudan.

Source: Xinhua