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Gold/Mining/Energy : TLM.TSE Talisman Energy -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Tomas who wrote (555)	11/9/1999 9:19:00 PM
From: Tomas	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1713

Top Sudan minister says willing to meet rebel leader By David Ljunggren OTTAWA (Reuters) November 9 - Sudan's foreign minister said Tuesday he was ready to meet a top rebel leader waging a 16-year civil war against the government in a move diplomats said showed Khartoum's increased willingness to end the conflict. Mustafa Osman Ismail said he had accepted an invitation to come to Ottawa to discuss ways of helping to end the war with the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), which is fighting to secure more autonomy in the mainly Christian and Animist south. The invitation was extended last month by Canadian Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy, who also asked SPLA leader John Garang whether he would be prepared to come. The Islamic government and the SPLA are bogged down in inconclusive peace talks sponsored by a regional African grouping known as the Inter-Governmental Authority for Development (IGAD). "I would be quite ready to meet John Garang in the presence of the Canadian foreign minister or any facilitator from the Canadian government so we could give a push to the IGAD process so it could move forwards," Ismail told reporters by telephone from Khartoum. "We believe this war cannot be won through military means -- the government cannot win it, Garang cannot win it. So the best way for us is to reach an agreement by peaceful means and the Sudan government is committed to that." Last month Khartoum extended by three months a cease-fire it declared in August to help the IGAD process. "Ismail's comments are significant. They are about the most explicit statement yet from the government about its willingness to meet Garang," said one Canadian diplomat. "We're pleased that he is willing to come to Ottawa but any formal mediation between the two sides must be done through IGAD, so we have to be careful to ensure that whatever happens here reinforces that process," he said. Officials said they had received no indication that Garang was ready to come to Ottawa at all, much less meet Ismail. Canada will next month send a team to probe alleged human rights abuses in Sudan and whether oil revenues are being used to finance the government's campaign against the rebels. Last month Khartoum said it was extending the cease-fire to allow relief aid to reach parts of the war-ravaged south. More than 1.5 million people have died in the conflict, which has helped trigger widespread famine. "We will direct most of oil revenue directly to the development of the south and at the same time we have got a very good harvest, so we will donate thousands of tonnes of seeds to the U.N. organizations in order to transport it to the needy people in the south," Ismail said, but gave no details. One diplomat said: "That would be significant if it were true, but we have no way of knowing whether it is or not." Ismail, in comments likely to irritate Axworthy, also said the United States was influencing Canada's policy toward Sudan and said he was surprised Ottawa had threatened a Canadian oil firm operating in the south of the country. Last month U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright expressed her dismay over Calgary-based Talisman Energy Inc.'s 25 percent stake in a south Sudan oil consortium. A few days later Canadian Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy released a policy paper threatening Talisman with sanctions unless it did more to help the civil war. "The statement about Talisman didn't start from the Canadian government, it started from Mrs. Albright and then the Canadian government made its statement," Ismail said. "I definitely think the United States' policy is influencing Canadian policy," he added. At the time Axworthy denied there was any link between the release of his paper and Albright's comments. Albright also said Washington would seek more international pressure on Khartoum to end the civil war, but Ismail urged Canada to take a less confrontational attitude. He pointed to a number of European Union nations he said had opened embassies in Khartoum to get a better understanding of the situation on the ground. biz.yahoo.com