External Relations Minister visits Europe

External Relations Minister Mustafa Uthman Ismail was scheduled on Monday to visit Britain, Italy and the Vatican to discuss the crisis and bilateral issues, reported Sudan state media. The newspaper ‘Al-Ra’y al-Amm’ in a dispatch monitored by the BBC, said the government was considering withdrawing from the east African Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) peace initiative after IGAD delegates meeting in Oslo, Norway, had rejected a merger of IGAD proposals with a new joint Libyan-Egyptian reconciliation initiative. But he said the government would study all options before deciding on such a move. Mohamed al-Atta, a member of Khartoum’s negotiating team, was quoted by AFP as saying IGAD had been asked to take a “stern” position towards the SPLA and “pressure it to abide by the ceasefire. He told reporters that the fighting in Bahr el Ghazal “will cause a grave humanitarian crisis”.