Benin president receives Sudanese foreign minister

COTONOU, Benin, Oct 30, 2004 (PANA) — President Mathieu Kérékou on Thursday evening received in Cotonou the Sudanese foreign minister Mustapha Osman Ismail, bearer of a message from President Omar El Bashir.

Radio Benin quoted Mustapha as saying on Friday morning that the objective of his visit was to deliver a message from the Sudanese head of state to his Beninese counterpart, connected with the crisis in Darfur region.

President Omar El Bashir has sent a message a message to his
counterpart in Benin, in his capacity as a member of the UN
Security Council, to inform him about the ongoing separate peace processes in Sudan,” the minister said. He was referring to the peace process in Nairobi, Kenya and in Abuja, Nigeria.

Sources indicated in Benin’s economic capital that the crisis 20-month crisis between Khartoum and two rebel groups in Darfur has killed more than 70,000 people and displaced 1.5 million others internally and outside the country.