Five stories from today (updated originally to add the one from VOA; updated further to fix the layout/formatting; updated further both to add the second, newer SABC story, and to reflect an apparently newer version of the AFP story):
(See also, most recently, the earlier one from the BBC.)
(This is apparently the latest version; earlier/alternate ones [including the one posted earlier] are also still available.)
South African President Thabo Mbeki arrived in Khartoum on Tuesday, to join the global push for UN peacekeepers in Darfur, amid fears of a regional spillover after clashes between Sudan and Chad.
President Omar al-Beshir greeted Mbeki and his Foreign Minister, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, at the airport, and the two were expected to hold talks Tuesday evening.
Mbeki will also head to Juba, the capital of South Sudan for talks with first Vice-President Salva Kiir.
He was expected to press al-Beshir to accept UN peacekeepers in Darfur, to boost an African Union (AU) force that has failed to stem violence there, though this was dismissed by Khartoum.
"There will be no pressure" over Darfur, the minister of state for foreign affairs, Sammani al-Wassila, told reporters.
The international community is seeking to persuade Khartoum to accept the plan put forward by former UN chief Kofi Annan and repeatedly rejected by Beshir, who has [accused] the West of harbouring neo-colonial ambitions.
The conflict now risks spilling over into neighbouring Chad and the Central African Republic.
On Monday, about 30 fighters from the two sides were killed in clashes when the Chadian army crossed the border into Sudan in pursuit of rebels, before being beaten back by Sudanese troops, said a Chadian official.
Sudan said [that] 17 of its soldiers were killed in the clashes.
The Chadian government itself at first denied [that] its forces had crossed the frontier, but on Tuesday acknowledged [that] they had done so in hot pursuit.
The skirmish came after deadly battles between the Chadian army and rebels earlier in the day in eastern Chad, less than a week after government forces bombed rebel positions in the east.
The UN refugee agency, meanwhile, described "apocalyptic" scenes in two Chadian villages following attacks last week blamed on Sudan's Janjaweed militia that had claimed between 200 and 400 lives.
Sudan on Tuesday accused Chad of violating border agreements reached between the countries in Libya last year.
"The Chadian government has shown no inclination to respect these accords," said the minister of state for foreign affairs, Ali Karti, in the presence of the ambassadors of Chad, Libya and Eritrea, state radio reported.
Karti said his ministry had asked the Chadian ambassador for a written explanation from his government of "what happened, and reserves the right to respond to this serious violation, at the appropriate time and place".
Eritrea and Libya helped broker the February 2006 Tripoli agreement, which Sudan maintains has been unobserved for the past year.
Chad and Sudan blame each other for supporting rebels in their respective countries. Both have refused the deployment of a UN-mandated force to patrol their border.
Mbeki was expected to advocate the deployment of UN peacekeepers in Darfur, to prop the 7 000-strong African Union contingent which has failed to stem the four-year-old bloodshed.
One member of the African force was killed and two others [were] wounded [on] Tuesday in an attack by unknown gunmen in North Darfur state. Five AU troops were killed in another attack ten days earlier.
Mbeki's visit came a day after China's envoy to the region, Zhai Jun, urged Sudan to be "more flexible" on Annan's peacekeeping plan.
Beijing's rare prod to its top African ally was expected to be followed up by US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte, who is due to kick off a week-long visit to Sudan and neighbouring countries on Wednesday.
Implementation of the Annan plan has already started but differences have emerged over the third and final phase, which is supposed to lead to a joint - or "hybrid" - peacekeeping force grouping AU and UN troops.
Khartoum has objected to the idea of a hybrid force and insisted the AU keep control of it.
Efforts are also under way to revive a peace deal signed in May 2006 between a rebel group and the government.
The Abuja agreement was endorsed by only one of three negotiating rebel factions. Violence has since continued unabated, deepening what is considered the world's worst unfolding humanitarian crisis.
From Reuters...
Sudan's Foreign Minister indicated on Tuesday that the remaining obstacle to a deal to bolster an African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur had been overcome.
Speaking after South African President Thabo Mbeki held talks on Darfur with his Sudanese counterpart Omar Hassan al-Bashir, Foreign Minister Lam Akol said [that] the issue of whether helicopter gunships should be used was no longer an issue.
"Both sides were saying that there was not enough explanation as to the need of those attack helicopters," he said at a news conference.
From the SABC (from earlier)...
President Thabo Mbeki has joined international efforts to persuade Sudan to accept a stronger international peacekeeping force in Darfur. Fighting has killed at least 200 000 people and displaced more than two million others in the region.
Mbeki is visiting Sudan to discuss with Omar al-Bashir, the Sudanese president, the deployment of a joint UN-African Union force in Darfur. Meanwhile an international affairs analyst says [that] it is unlikely that Sudan will ease its opposition to the deployment of United Nations troops to the troubled region of Darfur.
Sudan yesterday [Monday] gave its approval for the United Nations to start sending reinforcements to African Union (AU) peacekeepers in Darfur.
President Thabo Mbeki is in Sudan for two days of talks. He is meeting his counterpart Omar al-Beshir in Khartoum to push for the deployment of a 17 000 strong peacekeeping force in Darfur.
There is still no movement on this despite Sudan's agreement yesterday to a second support package, the deployment of UN logistical and technical personnel.
Meanwhile the cross border fighting between Chad and Sudan continues. Chad's ambassador to Sudan has been summoned to explain.
The South African president is preparing to meet his Sudanese counterpart for two days of talks in Sudan. Discussions are expected to focus on developments in the volatile Darfur region and the thorny issue of sending U.N. peacekeepers to Darfur. Cathy Majtenyi reports for VOA from Nairobi.
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has long resisted the idea of allowing U.N. peacekeepers to be deployed in Darfur, arguing that such a move would violate Sudan's sovereignty.
He has argued [that] the United Nations should instead support the seven-thousand under-funded and poorly equipped African Union troops stationed in the region since 2004.
Bashir is expected to make these and other points to South African President Thabo Mbeki and Minister of Foreign Affairs Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma during their two-day visit to Sudan.
Rabie Abdul Atti, a senior adviser to Sudan's information minister, explains to VOA what he expects from Mr. Mbeki's visit.
"Number one: to facilitate for the African Union all the ways that [the] African Union will be in a position to keep peace in Darfur. The second point: I expect that Thabo Mbeki will discuss with the president [Bashir] either to avoid any problem between Sudan and United Nations and U.N. Security [Council]," said Atti. "And, number three: maybe Thabo Mbeki will discuss also the assistance which will be provided by South Africa government to Sudan in the context of achieving peace in Darfur."
Under increasing pressure from the international community, Sudan and the United Nations agreed last November on a three-phase plan to deploy a so-called hybrid force of 20,000 United Nations and African Union troops to replace the AU force.
The four-year-old Darfur conflict has killed more than 200,000 people and displaced about two million more.
Involved in the fighting are Sudanese government forces, two rebel groups, and the Janjaweed militia that many say is being supported by the Sudanese government.
Fighting has accelerated in recent weeks and is spilling over into neighboring Chad.
The South African president is also expected to hold talks with First Vice President and President of South Sudan Salva Kiir.
Information minister adviser Atti says [that] the two will likely discuss the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, or CPA, that the north and south, formerly controlled by the Sudan [People's] Liberation Movement, signed in early 2005.
The agreement ended more than two decades of war between north and south Sudan.
"Thabo Mbeki will go through the implementation of the CPA [Comprehensive Peace Agreement] between Sudan and SPLM [Sudan {People's} Liberation Movement], and also the differences between Salva Kiir and the government regarding any conflicting points of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement up to now," he added.
Atti says [that] he thinks [that] this is Mr. Mbeki's fourth visit to Sudan.
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