Sudanese president, US envoy meet on Darfur

Sudan's president and America's envoy to the country "agreed to disagree" on the history of the Darfur crisis but both believe that progress is possible, said US special envoy Andrew Natsios after his first meeting with the head of state on Wednesday. Natsios, who the White House named envoy for Sudan to help solve three years of violence in Darfur, met President Omar al-Bashir at the end of his four-day visit to push for Khartoum to accept some measure of UN intervention in its wartorn western region. Al-Bashir had refused to meet him during his previous trip in October. The special envoy said he and al-Bashir discussed the situation in Darfur and in the Sudan's tense south for nearly two hours.