Sudanese President to make first visit to Vatican

KHARTOUM, Sep 4 (Reuters) Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir will travel to the Vatican in mid-September for his first visit to the Holy See since coming to power in an Islamist-backed coup in 1989, an adviser said today.

Bashir, whose government the Vatican has criticised for human rights abuses, will meet Pope Benedict and discuss a Sudanese initiative for religious dialogue, he said. Bashir will also discuss efforts to bring peace to war-torn Darfur.

''He will meet the Pope around Sept. 14,'' presidential adviser Mahjoub Fadul told Reuters, saying the visit would take place during a three-day trip to Italy. ''It will be an important meeting.'' Pope Benedict urged Sudan in June to work for an end to the conflict in Darfur, where 200,000 people have died in over four years of conflict, saying it was not too late for the country to find a solution through dialogue and cooperation.

The Vatican has in the past also criticised Sudan over human rights issues, including alleged repression of the country's Christian population, a charge Sudan denies.

Sudan's predominantly Arab and Muslim government signed a peace deal with the mainly Christian and animist south in 2005,ending over two decades of north-south conflict that cost an estimated 2 million lives through violence, hunger and disease.

The north-south conflict had religious aspects, as the south rejected attempts by the north to impose Islamic law on non-Muslims.

Sudan recently hosted a conference on religious dialogue, attended by Muslim and Christian leaders from around the world.

The majority of Sudan's Christian population is Catholic.

REUTERS PD AS1902