SUDAN:Sudanese president Omar Hassan al-Bashir said yesterday that his government would observe a ceasefire in Darfur after the start of peace talks with the rebels next month.
Mr Bashir was speaking on a visit to Rome that has drawn criticism in Italy and abroad. The Sudanese leader also met Pope Benedict XVI, who stressed respect for human rights and religious freedom in the vast African country.
Mr Bashir said he hoped the October 27th peace talks in Libya would be the last of their kind and would finally end a four-year conflict in the western Sudan region which foreign experts estimate has killed 200,000 people and driven another 2.5 million from their homes. Khartoum disputes the figures.
"We have given our government's willingness for a ceasefire from the start of the peace talks," he said through a translator at a news conference with Italian prime minister Romano Prodi, who called it a strong and important signal for peace.
Mr Prodi, who has been criticised by European parliamentarians and Italian politicians for hosting Mr Bashir during his rare trip to Europe, said he used the meeting to underline the "strong concerns" of the international community over the crisis.
The Sudanese president in turn urged Europe to pressure rebel leaders to attend the peace talks in Libya.
Mr Bashir also maintained that the situation in Darfur had improved and called for an easing of sanctions.
A ceasefire was agreed in April 2004 but has been violated frequently, with fighting blamed on government troops, rebels and Janjaweed militias.
UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon has urged all parties to end the violence immediately and prepare for the deployment of 26,000 UN-African Union peacekeepers.
A potential obstacle to the Libya talks is Paris-based rebel leader Abdel Wahid Mohamed el-Nur, founder of the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army, who has set conditions for taking part.
Rebel commanders urged him yesterday to attend.
Another Darfur rebel leader, Suleiman Jamous, was flown out of Sudan for medical treatment in Kenya after having been under effective house arrest at a UN hospital for 15 months.
Mr Jamous, the humanitarian co-ordinator of the Sudan Liberation Movement, is respected in Darfur and is considered a consensus builder who could help unify rebel groups.
Mr Bashir's visit has stirred opposition within Italy from local human rights groups and some politicians, one of whom said he should be met with a firm hand rather than a red carpet.
A group of European parliamentarians led by Britain's Glenys Kinnock also said it was surprised and concerned that Mr Prodi would welcome a man who was "primarily responsible for the slaughter in Darfur".