Bush, Congo’s Sassou-Nguesso discuss Sudan’s Darfur
June 5, 2006 (WASHINGTON) — US President George W. Bush and Congo President Denis Sassou-Nguesso held talks on Sudan’s Darfur region, the fight against AIDS, and Iran’s nuclear program, the two leaders said.
After meeting in the Oval Office, Bush thanked his guest, who is also chairman of the African Union, for working to give AU forces now in Darfur a United Nations mandate “as quickly as possible.”
“We had a very constructive discussion about a variety of issues,” Bush told reporters. “We talked about our common commitment to help end the genocide in Darfur.”
The US president thanked Sassou-Nguesso for help crafting the May 5 Darfur peace agreement and said, “I appreciate his leadership in working with the United Nations so we can get the AU forces blue-helmeted as quickly as possible.”
Bush renewed his desire to help fight the spread of HIV/AIDS in Africa and hailed Congo for its low infection rate.
Sassou-Nguesso said the two leaders had discussed terrorism, and diplomatic efforts to ease fears that Iran seeks nuclear weapons, especially ongoing talks about an incentive package to get Tehran to accept limits on its atomic ambitions.
“We talked about the dialogue that’s about to open up, I hope, and that will bring good results to that problem,” he said.
Sassou-Nguesso also said that Russian President Vladimir Putin had invited him to attend next month’s G8 summit of of major industrialized democracies plus Russia in Saint Petersburg as a representative of Africa.
(ST/AFP)