Sudan's Bashir to accept referendum result

Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir said on Monday that Khartoum has accepted the outcome of the referendum on southern independence, hours before final results were expected to confirm a landslide for secession."We will announce today, in front of the world, that we accept the result and we respect the choice of southern Sudanese," Bashir said in a speech to women and students at the headquarters of the ruling National Congress Party.

Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir told southerners on a rare visit to Juba on Tuesday he would celebrate the result of Sunday's referendum on southern independence, "even if you choose secession.""I personally will be sad if Sudan splits. But at the same time I will be happy if we have peace in Sudan between the two sides," Bashir said in a speech to senior southern officials at the start of his one-day visit."I am going to celebrate your decision, even if your decision is secession."

Cafes in Khartoum have been forced to implement a ban on the smoking of water pipes, a popular activity throughout the Arab world, in a move welcomed by Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir."The police came several days ago and told us that it was no longer possible to serve shisha to our clients," said one waiter at a popular cafe in the Sudanese capital.The Khartoum authorities had instructed cafe owners earlier this year not to serve water pipes, also known as nargileh or shisha, to women. But now the ban applies to men as well.

Sudan's genocide-accused President Omar al-Bashir was Friday in Kenya, has ratified the Rome Statute requiring cooperation with the International Criminal Court, an AFP journalist reported.The veteran Sudanese leader, wanted by The Hague-based court for alleged war crimes and genocide in the western Sudanese region of Darfur, was in Nairobi to attend the promulgation of Kenya's new constitution.Bashir, whose name was not on the list of heads of state expected to attend issued by the Kenyan foreign ministry, arrived at the Uhuru Park venue and was ushered to the main dais.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir is to hold talks on Tuesday in Qatar, a key broker in the floundering Darfur peace process, amid reports of fresh air strikes in the war-torn western region."On his (two-day) visit, President Bashir will meet Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, and the talks are expected to address the negotiations and the mediation efforts on the Darfur file," Sudan's ambassador to Qatar told the Sudanese Media Centre, which is close to the government.

Until recently, the conventional wisdom has been that a pro-independence referendum for southern Sudan was overwhelmingly likely to end in massive bloodshed. Now it looks like things may work out fairly happily. How’d it happen? Elizabeth Dickinson explains the American diplomacy at work:

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, wanted by an international court for suspected war crimes in Darfur, will not attend an Africa-EU summit in Libya which Sudan will boycott, his foreign minister said on Sunday."Mr Bashir will not attend" the two-day summit that starts on Monday, Sudanese Foreign Minister Ali Ahmad Karti said in the Libyan capital."We are therefore pulling out and will not be represented at any level," he added after a meeting of African foreign ministers ahead of the summit.