Iran’s President Khatami begins Sudan visit

Iranian President Mohammad Khatami (L) is welcomed by his Sudanese counterpart Omar Hassan al-Bashir (R) upon his arrival at Khartoum International Airport Oct 4, 2004.

KHARTOUM, Oct 4 (AFP) — Iranian President Mohammad Khatami arrived in Khartoum to start a three-day visit to Africa’s biggest country whose government has come under pressure to act over what the United Nations terms a humanitarian crisis in the western region of Darfur.

Khatami is due to have talks with Sudanese leaders on bilateral, regional and international issues, and presidential sources said he and Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir began their first meeting soon after the Iranian leader arrived.

Details of their talks were not immediately available.

Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Ismail told reporters that the visit, the first by Khatami since he became president in 1997, would further strengthen ties and cooperation between Khartoum and Tehran in the commercial, economic, cultural and political fields.

Khatami was due to give a speech to the National Assembly on Tuesday and a lecture on dialogue between cultures at Khartoum’s Friendship Hall later.

The UN Security Council passed a resolution in September threatening sanctions against Sudan’s vital oil industry for failing to rein in pro-government Arab militias accused of atrocities in Darfur. The UN says 50,000 people have died since a revolt erupted in February last year, and another 1.2 million made homeless.

The Iranian president arrived from a three-day visit to Algeria seen as marking a warming of relations, which were marred by a seven-year rift, when Algiers accused Tehran of backing Muslim radicals.

Five cooperation pacts were signed during Khatami’s visit there.