[15/November/2009]

KHARTOUM, Nov 15 (Saba) -- Scott Gration, the US special envoy to Sudan, starts a one-week visit to Sudan tomorrow to push forward ongoing efforts in a bid to bring about success to the Darfur peace talks, due in the Qatari capital, Doha, next month, Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) reported on Sunday.

Gration's visit is within preparations for the Doha talks, said Director of the foreign ministry's America Department Nasruddin Wali said in a statement Sunday.

He said Gration would be meeting with Vice-President Ali Othman Taha, President's advisor and responsible for Darfur file Ghazi Salahuddin and foreign minister Deng Alor Kuol.

A team from Gration's office has been in Sudan for few days now to prepare the ground for the Doha talks and Gration's visit.

The US envoy visited Sudan in the first week of this month and held talks with officials on sticky issues over the 2005 peace agreement between the south and north, as well as Washington's new strategy towards Sudan.

Previous rounds of talks between Khartoum and the rebels in Darfur had failed. All mediations launched since 2006 have also failed to reach understandings between Khartoum and the rebels in Darfur.

The conflict in the troubled province which erupted in 2003 killed and displaced more than 2.5 million people.

Saba