Annan encourages Sudanese parties to press ahead with peace talks

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today contacted key leaders involved in the peace negotiations on the Sudan in a bid to move the process forward.

Mr. Annan phoned the President of the Sudan, Omar Al-Bashir, and the leader of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement, John Garang, “to convey his encouragement for the current peace talks going on in Kenya,” a spokesman for the Secretary-General said in a statement released in Geneva.

The Secretary-General “registered his satisfaction with the progress made to date and urged the two sides to continue negotiating in good faith until peace prevails in the Sudan,” the spokesman reported.