A Sudanese opposition leader announced in Cairo on Sunday a new initiative to achieve comprehensive national reconciliation in his country, the Egyptian state MENA news agency reported.

Mohamed Othman al-Merghani, leader of Sudan's National Democratic Alliance and Democratic Unionist Party, made the announcement following talks with Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa.

Contacts were underway with all political parties in Sudan to carry out the new initiative, Merghani said, without elaborating details of the peace plan.

Regarding the western Sudanese region of Darfur, Merghani said he discussed with Moussa the situation there and stressed the necessity to support the people living in the area.

Arab countries can play a role in aiding refugees and improving humanitarian conditions in the troubled region, Merghani added. A five-year conflict in the western Sudanese region has cost thousands of lives.

On May 5, 2006, the Sudanese government signed a peace agreement with a faction of the Sudan Liberation Movement led by Sudanese Senior Presidential Assistant Mini Arkou Minawi.

However, other rebel leaders refused to sign the peace deal, demanding more compromises from the government.

(Xinhua News Agency June 2, 2008)