President Bush meets US Sudan envoy Tuesday
Oct 31, 2006 (WASHINGTON) — US President George W. Bush will meet his special envoy for Sudan, Andrew Natsios, on Tuesday, to get an update on efforts to end violence in Darfur, the White House said.
Bush and Natsios were to meet in the Oval Office at 9:00 am (1400 GMT) to discuss the humanitarian crisis in the war-wracked Darfur region amid stalled attempts to bolster an international peacekeeping presence there.
“The president will meet with his special envoy for Sudan, Andrew Nastios, to receive a report from Mister Natsios and to discuss the way forward,” said a spokesman for Bush’s national security council, Gordon Johndroe.
The meet comes roughly one week after US national security adviser Stephen Hadley, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Natsios, and Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer held talks on Darfur at the White House.
Natsios recently returned from Egypt after a week-long visit to Sudan, his first since Bush named him his special envoy for Darfur in September.
The UN Security Council adopted a resolution on August 31 calling for the deployment of up to 20,000 peacekeepers to replace an embattled African Union contingent that has failed to restore peace and stability in Darfur.
At least 200,000 people have died as a result of fighting, famine and disease, and more than two million have fled their homes since rebels launched an uprising in Darfur in early 2003, prompting a scorched-earth response from the military and militia allies.
Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir has rejected deployment of UN forces, charging the plan was part of a US-engineered plot to invade and plunder resources.
(AFP)