Bashir-Konare Meeting Purported to Underscore

UNCLAS KHARTOUM 000425 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR AF/SPG DEPT PLS PASS USAID FOR AFR/SUDAN E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV AU SU SUBJECT: Bashir-Konare Meeting Purported to Underscore Importance of Continuing AMIS PKO Role in Darfur ¶1. According to a February 18 account in the pro- government newspaper Sudan Vision Daily, President Bashir and African Union Commission Chairman Alpha Omar Konare affirmed in a meeting on February 15 the "necessity that the initiative of resolving Darfur issue remains African initiative (sic)." The article states that Foreign Minister Lam Akol noted to the government-run Sudan News Agency (SUNA) that the meeting had reviewed the situation in Darfur and agreed that the "initiative remains African so as to find solution to the problem as quickly as possible (sic)." Finally, the article states that Konare told SUNA that African issues, especially Darfur, should "remain at the hands of the African union." ¶2. The Arabic newspaper Al Sahafa printed a similar account, citing Konare as having stated that the Darfur situation was "an African responsibility and should be African." HUME