Al-Bashir meets US envoy

The Sudanese daily al-Anbaa said on Tuesday that President Omar Hassan al-Bashir informed a US delegate that Sudan wants to establish a dialogue with the US.

The paper quoted al-Bashir as saying to US envoy Harry Johnston on Monday evening that, "Sudan is careful to establish a constructive dialogue with the US on the ground of mutual understanding and honoring the desires of the other's side and non-intervention in its internal affairs."

In a meeting with Johnston, al-Bashir said that Washington can carry out an important role in the peace decision in Sudan which is witnessing a civil war in southern Sudan that has resulted in the death of 1.5 million people since 1983.

Johnston on Monday talked about a detente in the relations between the two countries. He arrived in Sudan on Saturday in the first visit carried out since he was appointed by US President Bill Clinton as a special delegate to Sudan. Johnston is the first US official to visit Sudan since the destruction made by US missiles of the Sudanese al-Shifaa factory in Khartoum in 1998.

Johnston's visit to Khartoum will last for three days, during which he will discuss with Sudanese officials the opening of the US embassy there, closed since 1996, peace efforts and the humanitarian conditions in the country.