The UN Security Council on Thursday welcomed the provisional peace accord reached in Doha by Sudan and Darfur's main rebel group and urged its speedy implementation. 'The members of the Security Council called on the parties to move to quickly implement the agreement in full as an important step towards peace in Darfur,' said a statement read by France's UN Ambassador Gerard Araud, who chairs the 15-member body this month. The 12-point provisional deal was signed in the Qatari capital Tuesday by Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir and Khalil Ibrahim, leader of Darfur's Justice and Equality Movement (JEM). A final peace deal was due to be signed by March 15. The security council members also appealed to 'all other parties in Darfur to join the Doha peace process and the agreement,' Araud said. The Doha deal offers the JEM, long seen as Darfur's most heavily armed rebel group, a power-sharing role in Sudan, where presidential and legislative polls are to be held in April. The council also commended the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, and Djibril Bassole Bassole, the chief mediator for the UN and the African Union in the conflict, for their contributions to the Darfur peace process. And council members acknowledged 'the substantial efforts of Chadian President Idriss Deby and his government in facilitating this accord.' Speaking Wednesday in El-Fasher, capital of North Darfur state, Beshir Beshir, the target of an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes in the strife-torn region, said: 'The crisis in Darfur is finished; the war in Darfur is over. Darfur is now at peace.' But Beshir's claim of peace was contradicted by reports of heavy fighting in Darfur between a hold-out rebel group and government forces. The Darfur conflict has claimed about 300,000 lives and displaced 2.7 million people, according to UN figures, since it erupted in February 2003. Khartoum puts the death toll at 10,000. Ethnic minority rebels rose up against Khartoum and state-backed Arab militias, demanding greater access to resources and power. 