Remarks at a joint press conference after meeting President Omar Hassan El Bashir of Sudan (unofficial transcript)

But I think this should be welcome news available for those in need and welcome news for the people of Sudan and for the humanitarian aid workers, and I want to share with you what the President said to me. He said these are Sudanese, they are our people, and so we are in this together.

And, we also have decided to intensify the liaison mechanisms for working out any of these differences. The President and I share the same concern about security for humanitarian workers. The UN itself has taken steps to improve our own security efforts around the world, and the Government of Sudan will work with us to ensure protection of the humanitarian personnel here. Thank you very much. We'll take your questions.

Q: The 18 locations that you are talking about, are they mostly in the Western Upper Nile and Bahr Al Ghazal?

SG: That's correct.

Q: What is your expectation towards the new role [inaudible] and establishing the humanitarian aid in Sudan?

SG: I think I should defer to the President first, since he is one of the signatories of the new African Union. They launched it.

Let me add a word to what the President said. The African Union also decided to focus on conflict resolution on the continent. I think they realize the harm and the damage conflicts are doing to all of us. Countries in war and countries at peace, in the sense that for those outside, when you mention Africa, Africa is a continent in crisis. It affects the investment climate and people are not coming to invest, so we are all paying the same risk, whether we are at peace or at war. Each African country has the stake in working with us and working together to ensure that we bring peace to this continent. Thank you. *****