Sudanese FM holds talks with US Zoellick

KHARTOUM, Jun 4, 2005 (Xinhua) — Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Othman Ismail said Saturday that he agreed with visiting US Under Secretary of State Robert Zoellick on an expected visit by a Sudanese delegation to Washington to discuss how to normalize bilateral relations.

U.S. Under Secretary of State Robert Zoellick addresses a news conference in Khartoum Thursday, April 14, 2005. (AFP).

Ismail told a press conference after a meeting with Zoellick that they discussed the implementation of the peace agreement signed in January between the Sudanese government and the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement to end a 21-year civil war in south Sudan.

He stressed that Zoellick acknowledged the improvement in the security and humanitarian situations in the western region of Darfur.

He said that the priorities of his government concerning Darfur issue were given to pushing peace talks and restoring security in cooperation with the African Union as well as supporting the ongoing humanitarian aid in cooperation with the international community.

he said that Zoellick had promised to press the Darfur rebel groups to seek political solution to the conflict and raise the level of their delegations to the next round of peace talks set on June 10 in the Nigerian capital Abuja.

Thousands have been killed and about two million people displaced in Darfur since rebels took up arms against the government in 2003.