Talks with Washington to address "joint interests"

Sudan's Presidential Adviser for Political Affairs Qutbi al-Mahdi said on Wednesday that scheduled talks with the US in November would be aimed at establishing relations based on dialogue, respect for each others' sovereignty and joint interests. Al-Mahdi said that the US government of George W Bush had realised the feasibility of dialogue, "contrary to former US administrations which depended for their policies towards Sudan on "the views of pressure groups, the Zionist lobby, religious rightists, the rebel movement [Sudan people's Liberation Movement/Army] and enemies of Sudan," the official Sudan News Agency (SUNA) reported on Thursday. Senator Danforth was currently consulting the State Department "in advance of a trip that he expects to make in November to work on these many other issues and on the peace process, or on the need for peace in Sudan," according to US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher. The US was pleased that Sudan was helped its battle with terrorism, "but it doesn't relieve them of their responsibility to do other things, to take care of some of these terrible problems we have had there," he added.