Sudanese Government Agrees to End Hostilities

The Sudanese government agreed to stop military operations in Darfur yesterday, several hours after a ceasefire deadline expired.

"We will inform our forces in Darfur immediately to stop any fighting," the foreign minister, Mustafa Osman Ismail, said after an emergency meeting with western diplomats and UN and African Union officials. He added: "We will not fire unless we [are] attacked by the other side."

The AU, which is mediating in the conflict, had set a deadline of 6pm on Saturday for Sudan to stop hostilities or be reported to the UN security council - a move that would have brought renewed international pressure on Khartoum.

According to the AU, government forces failed to comply on Saturday and attacked the village of Labado in south Darfur with helicopters. Fighting also reportedly continued yesterday morning.

On Friday, AU ceasefire monitors accused the Sudanese government of preparing for a major military offensive and said "astronomical" quantities of arms and ammunition had been pouring into the Darfur region. The area had become a "timebomb that could explode at any moment", Festus Okonkwo, the AU commander in Darfur, warned.

Following yesterday's talks, William Patey, the British ambassador in Khartoum, said the Sudanese government had told the meeting they were ready to cease military operations immediately.

"They invited the African Union and the United Nations to convey this to the rebels and to ask the rebels to immedi ately cease any military operations," he said.

Mr Patey said the Sudanese government and the diplomats had also agreed that both sides should withdraw to previous positions but this would depend on more discussions because neither side in the conflict had fulfilled an obligation to tell the AU where its forces stood at the time of the much-violated ceasefire that was agreed last April.

"We are not talking about withdrawing now," Mr Ismail said.

"We are talking about the immediate cessation of hostil ities in order to create an atmosphere for those in Abuja [the Nigerian capital] to decide what next."

Peace talks in Abuja have been on hold since fierce fighting broke out last week between rebels and the government in Darfur. The main rebel groups said they would boycott the talks until the gov ernment stopped military operations there.

Tajeddin Bashir Niam, a delegate of the rebel Justice and Equality Movement, told Reuters in Abuja: "We are not on the offensive.

"It is they that are attacking and have even taken some of our positions. We are not fighting."