Sudan ready to discuss cease-fire

Sudan’s president said he accepted a U.N. package to help end escalating violence in Darfur and was ready to discuss a cease-fire.

The president, Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir, said in a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan that Sudan was ready to immediately implement two agreements endorsing a three-step U.N. plan to strengthen a 7,000-strong African Union force.

Bashir also dropped his opposition to a hybrid AU-U.N. force that would be deployed as the final step in the peace plan.

However, U.N. Security Council diplomats cautioned that Bashir remained opposed to any large U.N. deployment and had backtracked on Darfur agreements in the past.