U.N.'s Ban welcomes Sudan leader's Darfur truce

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday cautiously welcomed Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir's latest declaration of a cease-fire in the war-ravaged western Darfur region.

"The secretary-general welcomes ... Bashir's declaration of an immediate cease-fire between the government of Sudan and the armed movements in Darfur as well as the intention by (Khartoum) to disarm all the militias," the office of Ban's spokeswoman said in a statement.

"The effectiveness of any cease-fire depends upon all parties demonstrating their commitment to a cessation of hostilities, particularly since past efforts to uphold a cease-fire in Darfur were not successful," the statement said.

The secretary-general also urged the government and rebels to make "concrete progress" towards a resolution of the conflict, which U.N. officials believe has left as many as 300,000 people dead and another 2.5 million homeless.

Khartoum says 10,000 people have died in the conflict, which began in 2003 when fighting broke out between the Arab-dominated Khartoum government and mostly African rebels.

The move by Bashir, accused in July by the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague of masterminding a campaign of genocide in Darfur, marks the latest push by the Sudanese government to persuade the U.N. Security Council to suspend any ICC warrant.

A key Darfur rebel group, the Justice and Equality Movement, called the announcement a "PR exercise" and vowed to fight on until a proper cease-fire deal was reached.

U.N. diplomats say the ICC judges are not expected to make a decision on whether or not to indict Bashir until next year. They also say Western members of the council are not ready to support a suspension of ICC action against Bashir.

(Reporting by Louis Charbonneau; Editing by Eric Beech)