Abuja — President Olusegun Obasanjo, in his capacity as Chairperson of the African Union (AU), has appointed former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, as his special envoy to the Sudan and Chad.

Abdulsalami, by his new appointment, is expected to visit Chad and Sudan this week for talks and on-the-spot assessment of the crisis in the Sudan, especially Darfur.

Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media, Mrs Oluremi Oyo, who made the disclosure yesterday while briefing State House Correspondents, stated that Abdulsalami is, however, expected to return to Abuja to brief Obasanjo before his (Obasanjo's) departure to Accra, Ghana on Thursday.

Oyo said that "in Accra, the President will be joined by other African Heads of State and also by the United Nations' Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan."

She added that Obasanjo's visit to Ghana, "will give the AU Chairman (Obasanjo) yet another opportunity to be able to further peace initiatives, especially in Cote d'Ivoire, Liberia and the Sudan, meaning Darfur."

The presidential spokesperson while giving major highlights of the president's programme for the week, stated that "later on this week, the President will be doing some travel in his capacity as not only the chairperson of the African Union (AU), but also in furtherance of the strong bilateral relations between Nigeria and Cameroon. It is just a one-night stop. Later on, he will be in Ghana.

She added that "in continuation of his peace-making initiative in Africa, President Obasanjo has appointed a former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar as his Special Envoy to Sudan and Chad. In pursuance of his new appointment, General Abubakar will this week visit Chad and Sudan for talks and on-the-spot assessment of the crisis in Sudan.

"As you know, Darfur has been in the news and President Obasanjo is very concerned about this. Not only as a statesman, but also because he again, believes in the fact that peace is indivisible and therefore, it means that if a part of Africa is not exactly at peace, it means that the whole of the continent is not at peace."