May 1 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick left today for Abuja, Nigeria, in an attempt to salvage African Union-brokered peace talks aimed at ending the violence in the Darfur region of Sudan.

Zoellick, 52, will try to win support for a proposed agreement between the rebels of the western Sudanese region and the government of Sudan, on the sharing of money and political power. Yesterday was the deadline set by the AU and the United Nations Security Council to complete an accord.

``It is incumbent on us to do everything that we can to try and see if we can't help the parties bridge their differences and help the very fine negotiator, Mr. Salim Salim, to do his work,'' Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told reporters in Washington.

Salim, the chief AU negotiator, told the Security Council on April 18 that the plan provides for Darfur's representation in Sudan's executive and legislative branches, the makeup of the governments of the region's three states and the transfer of money from Khartoum for rebuilding and compensation of victims of the violence.

An agreement to end fighting in Darfur is designed to open the way for the deployment of UN peacekeeping troops later this year.

The violence began in February 2003 when rebel groups attacked government security forces to push their demands for a bigger share of Sudan's wealth and representation in local government. The national government in Khartoum responded by organizing nomadic herders and some Arab tribal militias into a counterinsurgency force that attacked settlements.

Deadline Extended

Early today, at the urging of U.S. Ambassador to Sudan Cameron Hume, the AU gave the rebels an additional 48 hours to sign the accord after they allowed a midnight deadline to pass.

``The extension of the deadline does not have any meaning for us,'' said Saifaldin Haroun, spokesman of the main faction of the Sudanese Liberation Movement (SLM), according to Agence France-Presse. The SLM is one of two rebel groups in a conflict that has claimed around 300,000 lives and displaced 2.4 million people since 2003.

Rice Seeks Action

``The international community has got to respond,'' Rice said. ``None of us want to see this situation in Darfur continue and/or worsen.''

Rice urged planning for a peacekeeping mission to be stepped up and for more aid to flow to the World Food Program. ``Conditions are only as good as they are because of the tireless work of humanitarian aid workers, who face a lot of dangers themselves from the violence in the area,'' she said.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in a statement, urged the parties to the Abuja talks to ``redouble their efforts and to come to an agreement without delay, so that the suffering and destruction in Darfur can be brought to an end.''

In a further blow to the talks, Sudanese Vice President Ali Osman Taha, the top official of his government at the negotiations, left Nigeria today. ``We urge the government of Sudan to send a senior representative back to Abuja to finalize the peace agreement,'' State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

`Full Compliance'

President George W. Bush asked for a resolution to the conflict in remarks on April 28. ``We expect there to be full compliance with the international desire for there to be peace in the Darfur region,'' Bush said during a White House press conference.

The U.S. government describes the killings of tens of thousands of people in Darfur as genocide.

Zoellick, the former top U.S. trade negotiator and now Rice's top deputy, has already made four trips to Sudan, including one in November.

It has not yet been decided how long Zoellick will remain in Abuja, Nigeria's capital, which has hosted several rounds of peace negotiations. Zoellick also wants to meet with Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and other AU officials and military commanders responsible for security in Darfur to ``ensure the delivery of humanitarian relief,'' McCormack said.

The prospect of a visit by Zoellick to Khartoum to meet with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir remains open, State Department officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said.

UN Force

Zoellick on April 27 said a UN peacekeeping mission must be allowed into Darfur to stop the conflict. The UN has been planning since last year for a Darfur mission of up to 20,000 troops to replace a 7,000-person African Union peacekeeping force in Sudan.

The Sudanese government has said it won't consider accepting UN troops without an agreement with rebels at Abuja talks and the UN won't send troops without the government's agreement.

The fighting in Darfur has forced international aid agencies to cut back relief efforts, another setback in a humanitarian crisis the UN has called the world's worst.

More than 10,000 people rallied on the National Mall in Washington yesterday calling on Bush to take stronger measures to stop the killing in Darfur.

To contact the reporter on this story: Janine Zacharia in Washington jzacharia@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: May 1, 2006 20:12 EDT