During his call on President Pervez Musharraf here on Thursday, the visiting German Vice Chancellor and Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer sought his assistance to resolve the conflict raging in Darfur region of southern Sudan saying that the situation was causing alarm and pressures on his country as well Europe.
Joschka Fischer accompanied by a large delegation of businessmen from his country on a 24-hour visit to the federal capital, later in the early afternoon left for Lahore. Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmud Kasuri also flew with the German delegation where the delegation is expected to meet with Pakistani businessmen.
The German Foreign Minister also met with Prime Minister Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and also with Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz whom he described as "Prime Minister in readiness".
Addressing a brief joint news conference, Khurshid Kasuri said President Musharraf had promised to Joschka Fischer to speak with the Sudanese leaders about the problem in Darfur.
The conflict in southern Sudan about two decades old is because of rebellious posture of the local pagan and Christian tribes against the federal authority and has several times boiled to the surface. The current reports from there mostly through the Western agencies speak of renewed tensions resulting in clashes in which a new element called Jingaweit militia is said to have challenged the rebels. Western news agencies claim that since February last year the clashes have displaced nearly a million people. Fischer visited Sudan a few weeks ago and is now on a five nation Asian tour seeking support for UN sanctions against the Khartoum government.
At the same time, Washington is also very active and has asked its field staff to collect information about the conflict in southern Sudan and also from those who have left for the neighbouring Chad.