KHARTOUM: Sudan’s government and Darfur rebels have agreed to a 60-day ceasefire and a peace summit sponsored by the African Union and the UN as steps towards stopping the violence in west Sudan, a visiting US official said yesterday.

Sudan has also agreed to let foreign journalists visit Darfur after a two-month ban and to remove a requirement for exit visas for aid workers, one of the biggest bureaucratic obstacles to the world’s largest aid operation in Darfur.

"President (Omar al-)Bashir agreed to the start of a peace process that includes a 60-day cessation of hostilities," said US New Mexico governor Bill Richardson, visiting Sudan. The AU-UN peace summit is to be held no later than March 15.

Richardson said rebel commanders he had met in Darfur had also agreed to the ceasefire, which would begin on a date to be set by the UN and the African Union, which are jointly mediating Darfur peace efforts.

A joint statement by the Sudanese government and Richardson also said Sudan would not use military aircraft painted in white colours, usually reserved for humanitarians, and that Darfur rebel commanders could safely call a conference in the field monitored by the UN and the AU.

Struggling AU forces have been unable to stem the violence but Sudan rejects a UN Security Council resolution authorising 22,500 UN peacekeepers to take over the Darfur AU mission.

Richardson said that while no agreement had been reached yet to let in UN fighting troops, Bashir was not as hardline in the latest discussions as he had been last year.

"I note flexibility in his position," he said. "When I first was here five months ago he was dead set against any UN troops. Now there’s some flexibility as ... there are technical UN blue-helmeted troops that will be permitted."

"Not fighting troops ... but it is progress," he said. – Reuters