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Scott GrationKhartoum - US envoy Scott Gration began an official visit to Sudan on Thursday as President Barack Obama turned up the heat on Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir to allow aid groups back into war-torn Darfur.

The retired air force general arrived in Khartoum early on Thursday for a week-long visit, a month after an international arrest warrant was issued against Bashir for war crimes committed in the western Sudanese region.

Bashir expelled 13 international aid groups from Darfur after the International Criminal Court issued the warrant for him on March 4.

Obama, speaking after meeting with his special envoy on Monday, said he hoped to find a way for humanitarian workers to resume their work in Darfur.

"We have to figure out a mechanism to get those NGOs back in place, to reverse that decision, or to find some mechanism whereby we avert an enormous humanitarian crisis," Obama said.

International aid agencies distribute food, offer medical aid and provide access to water to some 2.7 million people displaced by the civil war in Darfur.

Kick-start discussions

The Sudanese president remained defiant about his government's decision to expel the aid agencies from Darfur in response to the ICC arrest warrant.

"In one year we will Sudanise all the aid on the ground and we can fill the gap in food distribution within one year because the Sudanese Red Crescent already distributes 45% of the food in Darfur," Bashir said during a visit to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.

On his Khartoum visit, Gration is due to meet with senior officials from the foreign ministry and could possibly meet Bashir, a foreign ministry spokesperson said.

"The US embassy told us clearly that (Gration) was here to listen. We don't expect him to come with a plan," Ali Sadiq said.

Gration is expected to visit Darfur over the weekend.

Obama had said that his envoy was to try to kick-start discussions between rebels and the government in order to reach a solution to the Darfur conflict, where 300 000 lives have been lost since 2003 and more than 2, 00 000 people displaced.

Solution to the crisis

Sudan puts the death toll from the six-year war at only 10 000.

The Darfur question has garnered much attention in the United States, where groups like "Save Darfur" are pushing for a solution to the crisis.

The Sudanese government and the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) signed an agreement in Doha in February aimed at holding peace talks, but JEM has indicated that it would back out if Khartoum does not authorise the return of the aid agencies.

Gration is also expected to visit Juba, the capital of south Sudan and Abyei, the oil-rich area between north and south Sudan where fighting last year threatened a return to Sudan's two-decade civil war which only ended with the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005.

Sudanese-US relations have been strained since the mid-90s.

The US had accused Sudan of harbouring Al-Qaeda members and in 1997 imposed sanctions against the country before launching a missile strike on Khartoum one year later.

Source: AFP