| Sudanese President Omar Hassan Bashir offered to temporarily stop bombing rebel positions for four weeks in a meeting with former Sen. John Danforth, President Bush's special envoy to the conflict. "We offered to declare a voluntary, unilateral cessation of aerial bombing for four weeks as a test," Bashir's top adviser on the conflict, Ghazi Salah el-Din Atabani said. Atabani said he hoped the move would "prepare the atmosphere for a comprehensive cease-fire." U.S. officials in Danforth's delegation were skeptical. Are he trying to make the point that just because he practices slavery he's still not in the same category as the Taliban? US prestige would appear to be up. |