Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir Wednesday met with US President George W. Bush's envoy Andrew Natsios and received a written message from Bush on bilateral relations and efforts to advance the peace process in Sudan, the official SUNA news agency reported.

The message dealt with implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in South Sudan, the situation in the western region of Darfur and how to persuade the rebel movements which did not sign the Abuja agreement on peace in Darfur to sign the agreement.

Envoy Natsios told reporters following the meeting that he discussed with the Sudanese president an agreement reached recently in Addis Ababa between Sudan, the United Nations and the African Union on the realization of peace in Darfur and how to engage the rebel movements which did not sign the Darfur Peace Agreement.

He said that they also discussed the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement between Khartoum and South Sudan.

Sudanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Lam Akol, on his part, said that the meeting was good and fruitful and would be useful for the peace process in Darfur.

He also urged the United States to release several Sudanese nationals detained in the US military base of Guantanamo in southern Cuba or bring them before the court in his meeting with Natsios, the official SUNA news agency reported.

"The minister of foreign affairs asked the US side to respond to repeated contacts and messages sent by the Sudanese government concerning the release of the Sudanese detainees," Ali al-Sadiq, spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, was quoted as saying.

The talks between Lam Akol and Natsios also dealt with bilateral relations, the Darfur issue and progress of implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in South Sudan.

Natsios arrived in Khartoum last Friday on his third visit to Sudan since he was appointed to the post.

(Xinhua News Agency March 8, 2007)