VZCZCXRO2025
PP RUEHROV
DE RUEHKH #0425 0491508
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 181508Z FEB 06 ZDK
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1533
INFO RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE

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