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 ROME (AP) - Sudan's president met with the pope and Italy's premier Friday and offered to declare a cease-fire with Darfur rebels to coincide with the start of U.N.-backed peace talks next month.
Past truces have been regularly violated, and at least two rebel groups quickly dismissed his offer.
Still, after President Omar al-Bashir's meeting with Pope Benedict XVI, the Vatican expressed hope the upcoming talks would end the suffering in Darfur, where more than 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million made homeless since ethnic African rebels took up arms in early 2003 against the Arab-dominated Sudanese government.
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