Salim Ahmed Salim, a lead mediator for the 53-nation AU, said the talks would continue until midnight on Tuesday, pushing back a scheduled Sunday end to talks that have gone on for two years but so far failed to halt violence behind the deaths of 180,000 people.

Salim said the bloc had bowed to requests from the United States and others to continue work on a proposed deal to end fighting.

The African Union, which is mediating the talks to end the conflict behind one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, had set midnight Sunday as the peace conference's end, pressing Darfur's warring parties to sign a peace deal circulated in recent days.

The Sudanese government indicated approval for the draft deal, but rebels said the pact failed to meet their demands for autonomy in the vast western Darfur region or vice-presidential representation in the Khartoum government.

In Washington, actors, athletes, politicians and religious leaders rallied Sunday to call attention to the Darfur conflict and urge greater US involvement. More than a dozen rallies were planned in US cities over the weekend.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called on China and Russia to join the United States in pushing Sudan to accept UN forces.

CNN