Washington, DC — U.S. President George W. Bush and South African President Thabo Mbeki are pushing for an urgent increase in the number of peacekeepers in Darfur. In talks at the White House on December 8, they also discussed a range of other issues, including tensions in Somalia and Africa's need to access world trade markets.

In a transcript of remarks to journalists after their meeting, Bush said the situation was "dire" and "now is the time for action."

Mbeki expressed concern at the impact of the situation in Darfur on Sudan's neighbours, particularly Chad and the Central African Republic, and voiced the hope that the United Nations Security Council would move quickly to ensure a larger deployment of troops.

"It's very urgent, very necessary, and we will absolutely do everything to make sure that, from the African side, we remove any obstacle there might be to such bigger deployment in Darfur," Mbeki added.

Mbeki also gave support to Somalia's transitional government. Somalia was "a failed state," he said. "It's necessary to support the transitional government, to [restore] a government and to reunify the country… one of the big problems is that as it is, it provides a base for terrorists, [who] find safe haven there and then can spread out to the rest of the continent."

In his opening remarks, Bush singled out Mbeki's concern at the failure of talks at the World Trade Organisation to open up world markets to Africa. "Trade will lift more people out of poverty than any other mechanism… And so we'll work to see if we can't get that issue solved."

For his part, Mbeki pronounced himself reassured by Bush's pledge: "It's a very important part, in terms of addressing the agenda of the poor of the world."

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Transcript of remarks by President George W. Bush and President Thabo Mbeki