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| Sudan truce pledge as talks loom | Sudan truce pledge as talks loom |
| (30 minutes later) | |
| Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir has said he is ready to call a ceasefire with rebel groups ahead of peace talks next month over the Darfur region. | Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir has said he is ready to call a ceasefire with rebel groups ahead of peace talks next month over the Darfur region. |
| Talks are scheduled in Libya on 27 October to try to end a conflict that has left more than 200,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced. | Talks are scheduled in Libya on 27 October to try to end a conflict that has left more than 200,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced. |
| Several ceasefires have previously been agreed in Darfur but none has held. | |
| Mr Bashir, speaking after meeting the Italian PM in Rome, said he hoped the Libya talks would bring "final peace". | Mr Bashir, speaking after meeting the Italian PM in Rome, said he hoped the Libya talks would bring "final peace". |
| 'Horror' | |
| Mr Bashir said: "We stated that we are prepared for a ceasefire for the start of negotiations in order to create a positive climate conducive to a positive end to the negotiations." | Mr Bashir said: "We stated that we are prepared for a ceasefire for the start of negotiations in order to create a positive climate conducive to a positive end to the negotiations." |
| The talks, in the Libyan capital Tripoli, will be with Darfur rebels who refused to sign an earlier peace accord in Nigeria in 2006. | The talks, in the Libyan capital Tripoli, will be with Darfur rebels who refused to sign an earlier peace accord in Nigeria in 2006. |
| Talks with rebels are due to start in Libya on 27 October | |
| Two of the several rebel groups in Darfur, the Justice and Equality Movement and a faction of the Sudan Liberation Army, recently said they had been attacked by government forces, although Sudan denied the allegation. | |
| The African Union peacekeeping mission in Sudan said the reports of attacks were "astonishing" given the importance attached to the talks in Libya. | |
| Mr Bashir is currently on a three-day visit to Rome. | Mr Bashir is currently on a three-day visit to Rome. |
| He met Italian PM Romano Prodi early on Friday and will later hold a private audience with Pope Benedict XVI at the pontiff's summer residence in Castel Gandolfo. | He met Italian PM Romano Prodi early on Friday and will later hold a private audience with Pope Benedict XVI at the pontiff's summer residence in Castel Gandolfo. |
| The Pope has said he will do whatever is possible to end what has called the "horror" of Darfur. | |
| Italy has been asked to take part in the strengthened UN peacekeeping force to be set up to police Darfur shortly. | Italy has been asked to take part in the strengthened UN peacekeeping force to be set up to police Darfur shortly. |
| Darfur has been wracked by conflict for more than four years. | |
| Sudan's government denies charges it backs Arab militias accused of atrocities against the region's black African population. |