Khartoum: No negotiations before ceasefire

A Sudanese official stressed that his government will not return back to negotiations with the rebels in the south under the leadership of John Garang unless ceasefire operations are observed and there a minimum of a stop in hostilities between the two sides.

The Sudanese minister of state for parliamentary affairs Abdul Baser Sabidrat explained in a press conference in Sanaa on Wednesday that Sudan will return back to peace but without outside pressure, and in the event of cease fire operations are observed.

The Sudanese minister underlined the American role in the current peace operations in Sudan and described it as decisive, adding that the US is a great unilateral force in the world that cannot be ignored, and that his country could achieve part of a dialogue with Washington which is beginning to hold a positive view about Sudan in that it does not shelter terrorists.

The Sudanese government renewed on Wednesday its commitment and policies to fighting terrorism, and called for drawing principles in the international campaign for fighting terrorism and uprooting it.

The principles included in a statement issued by the Sudanese foreign ministry on the occasion of the first anniversary of the September 11 attacks in the USA in 2001 that terrorism is an integrated phenomena and in all its forms and types threatens world peace and security, and that uprooting terrorism requires searching for its reasons and roots.