Sudan leader starts Italy visit

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The President of Sudan, Omar al-Bashir, has arrived in Rome for a three-day visit during which he will meet Italian government leaders and the Pope.

The human rights situation in Darfur is expected to dominate the talks.

President Bashir is accompanied by a delegation of nine government ministers and leading businessmen from Khartoum.

Mr Bashir's main aim is to discuss business and economic cooperation but the visit has been criticised by local human rights organisations.

Human rights abuses

Hundreds of thousands have been killed in Darfur and millions forced to flee from the violence of the Janjaweed militia.

President Bashir will begin his visit with a breakfast meeting with the Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi.

Later in the morning he will have a private audience with Pope Benedict at the pontiff's summer residence at Castelgandolfo near Rome.

Pope Benedict has frequently been critical of the human rights situation in Darfur and he will not mince his words when he meets the Sudanese leader.

However it is rare for the Vatican to encounter an Islamic leader who actually asks to meet the Pope.

The larger issues of future relations between the Catholic Church and Sudan, which has a mixed Muslim and Christian population, will also come up for discussion.

Italy has been asked to take part in the beefed up United Nations peacekeeping force to be set up to police Darfur shortly, although the Rome government has not yet decided what form this is to take.

President Bashir is to leave Rome on Sunday, well before a planned candlelit march through the city by Italian demonstrators calling for a cessation of hostilities in Darfur directed against the civilian population by the Sudanese military.