Darfur Rebels Agree to 60-day Truce

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Sudan's government and Darfur rebels have agreed to a 60-day cease-fire and a peace summit sponsored by the African Union and United Nations as steps toward stopping the violence in west Sudan, a visiting U.S. official said Wednesday.

"President [Omar al-]Bashir agreed to the start of a peace process that includes a 60-day cessation of hostilities," said New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, while visiting Sudan.

Saying the temporary truce provides a "cooling-off period," Richardson told CNN that "I think it is a step in the right direction. ... I'm very excited about this breakthrough."

"What we were able to do is set up a political process that puts pressure on both sides to reach an agreement, not just on a cease-fire, but to have United Nations peacekeeping troops, to secure the borders, to stop some of the killing and the famine, " he said in the CNN interview.

Experts estimate 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million driven from their homes since mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms in early 2003 accusing the government of neglect. Khartoum rejects Washington's description of the violence as genocide.

The African Union-U.N. peace summit is to be held no later than March 15.

Sudan also has agreed to let foreign journalists visit Darfur after a two-month ban and to remove a requirement for exit visas for aid workers, one of the biggest bureaucratic obstacles to the world's largest aid operation in Darfur.

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