Talks intensified today to convince two rebel factions to sign a peace deal to end a three-year-old conflict in Sudan's Darfur region where tens of thousands have been killed.
A peace deal was signed on May 5 thby only one rebel faction, Minni Arcua Minnawi of the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA).
African Union mediators gave two other factions until today to sign or face possible UN sanctions.
"The day will end at midnight so we still have time and we still wish to see others joining the peace process," said Noureddine Mezni, AU spokesman in Khartoum.
Abdel Wahed Mohammed al-Nur, the other SLA faction leader, is in the Kenyan capital Nairobi but his faction said yesterday he would not sign unless changes or additions were made, which both the AU and the Sudan government reject.
And the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) is being prodded by the Slovenian President Janez Drnovsek in Ljubljana. JEM leader Khalil Ibrahim also says he wants radical changes before signing.
The two factions say they want more political posts, better compensation for the victims of the conflict and a say in disarming the government-armed Arab militia, who are responsible for much of the violence on the ground.
More than two million, mostly non-Arab, Darfuris having fled their homes to miserable camps, which have become tinderboxes of violence as thousands demonstrate daily against the deal.
The Sudanese Organisation Against Torture (SOAT) said police had opened fire on Darfuris in the Otash camp in South Darfur on Monday, killing one and wounding three. In nearby Kalma, police beat and arrested dozens of demonstrators.
The cash-strapped AU itself has come under attack from those in the camps, frustrated at the 7,00-strong force's inability to protect them from continued rape, looting and killing. But the AU has a hard time defending itself.
Last week a patrol was attacked, killing and wounding one soldier, and later unknown armed men attacked an AU base in Masteri in south-west Darfur, injuring five soldiers.