British State minister for foreign affairs to visit Sudan soon

Sudan said that British Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Derek Fatchett will visit Sudan soon to examine the efforts to achieve peace there.

Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Othman Ismael denied that the British minister is to convey a new initiative for achieving peace in the south and for a cease fire.

He also confirmed Khartoum's approval of the British minister's visit, which comes after visits paid by ministers from Germany, Holland, Sweden and Belgium, and said "Sudan's attitude on ceasing hostilities is clear."

He also said that his country offered a cease fire, called for by the Security Council and the United Nations' secretary-general, to the rebels, yet they refused and obstructed all efforts to rescue the people injured in the war.

He stated that the Sudanese president made this offer during the last peace negotiations with the Sudanese People's Liberation Movement during May in Nairobi, Kenya.