The rebel SLM and the JEM have issued statements of a "joint position" not to sign the AU-brokered peace accord.
"This document is not acceptable to us, and we are not going to go by it or sign it," JEM spokesman Ahmed Hussain said.
AU spokesman Noureddine Mezni warned the mediators' assignment "is over at 12:00 midnight."
"A couple of hours' slip is no problem, of course, you can stop the clock and continue," Pronk said after the afternoon meeting.
"But the AU has set the deadline. I think the moment of truth is now. We have reached more or less the end of possibilities. (The rebels) have to sign tomorrow," he added.
"As mediators, the AU deadline and document will not change," the AU spokesman said earlier in reaction to the rebel statements.
"Our position is supported by the UN Security Council and if the agreement is not signed they know what to do," he added.
"I did remind the parties this afternoon on the need to sign the agreement, but you cannot continue day after day repeating the old positions. It is not a serious representation of the people who you claim to fight for," Pronk said.
"If the government of Sudan is willing to accept the pressure of the international community to sign, and the parties are not ready to do so, then they have to bear the brunt," he said.
"And these are political consequences which the UN Security Council will decide."
Pronk praised the behaviour in the talks of the Sudanese government. "They have taken a decision that they can sign the document though they said they did not like the document a hundred percent," he said.
Full report Sudan Tribune Apr 30, 2006.
Thank you for your relentless work for the poor victims of the (believed to be) largest calamaty since WW2.
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