Sudan FM ready to meet with Garang

Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Othman Ismael has announced that he is ready to meet with the leader of the rebels in southern Sudan, John Garang.

News reports in Ottawa, Canada said that this statement made by the Sudanese FM shows Sudan's continued readiness to end the war that has continued for 16 years.

Ismael added that he had accepted an invitation to come to Ottawa to discuss means of ending the war and that Canadian Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy had extended this invitation.

In a telephone conversation from Khartoum Ismael said he is ready to meet with Garang in the presence of the Canadian foreign minister or any other mediator from the Canadian government. He added: "We think that nobody will win this war, therefore the best means is to reach an agreement by peaceful means," saying that the Sudanese government is committed to that.

Officials in Canada said that they have not received any signal that Garang is ready to come to Ottawa or to meet with Ismael.

Sudan held indecisive discussions with Garang under the patronage of a regional African coalition called the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD).