Sudanese official says trip of UK envoy to Eritrea “important”

KHARTOUM, Feb 17, 2005 (SUNA) — The political adviser of the president of the republic, Qutbi al-Mahdi, has stressed that Sudan does not want another problem being concocted in the eastern region.

Qutbi said he believed that the forthcoming visit of the US special envoy for Sudan, Alastair McPhail, to Eritria would be important.

He told Suna “As soon as we finished with the Nairobi talks, we were hit by another crisis at the UN Security Council over Darfur which has had an impact on the progress of the talks with the rebels. Therefore, we definitely can do without another concocted problem in the eastern region”.

Material provided by the BBC Monitoring Service.