An exiled leader of the biggest rebel faction inside Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) in Sudan's restive western region of Darfur returned to Sudan on Monday.

Minni Arkou Minawi, whose faction signed a peace agreement with the government in early May, arrived in al-Fashir, the capital of North Darfur, and was received by the governor of the North Darfur state Osman Yousif Kibr and officials of the state government as well as a representative of the Libyan Foreign Ministry in Darfur.

At a press conference held at the headquarters of the African Union (AU) mission in the city, Minawi said that the peace agreement he signed with the Sudanese government in the Nigerian capital Abuja on May 5 would be implemented "because of the seriousness of the signing parties."

He also called on another two major rebel factions, Abdu al- Wahid al-Nour's faction in the SLM and Khalil Ibrahim's Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), to join the peace process.

The refusal of al-Nour and Ibrahim to sign the peace agreement would negatively affect the security situations in Darfur, Minawi said.

Neither al-Nour nor Ibrahim has accepted the AU-sponsored peace agreement, claiming that it did not meet all their demands.

The AU asked the two rebel leaders to sign the peace agreement before the end of this month, warning of serious consequences if the deadline was ignored.

Minawi also disclosed that he held a meeting with Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in its capital of Tripoli on Sunday on the importance of Libya's support for the Darfur peace agreement.

The Libyan leader expressed his support for the Darfurians and promised to exert efforts to persuade those rebel groups who still refuse to sign the peace agreement to do so in order to realize the security and stability in Darfur, Minawi said.

Source: Xinhua