KHARTOUM, May 27 (Xinhuanet) -- UN Secretary General Kofi Annan arrived here Friday for talks with the Sudanese government on peace efforts to solve the humanitarian crisis in the country's western Darfur region.

    Annan was met at the airport by Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail.

    He was due to meet UN officials before going into talks with Sudan's First Vice President Ali Osman Taha and Ismail, said concerned officials.

    During his three-day visit, the UN chief will also go to Darfur to see for himself the humanitarian crisis there and view African Union (AU) monitors in peacekeeping work, they added.  

    The visit comes after Annan attended a conference in Addis Ababa where international donors pledged millions of US dollars in further aid to the AU peace mission.

    About 2,300 troops from AU member states such as South Africa, Rwanda, Gabon, Nigeria and Senegal and hundreds of civilian police are monitoring a shaky ceasefire between Khartoum and rebel groups in Darfur.

    Speaking at the Addis Ababa conference on Thursday, the UN chief denounced that "the situation remains unacceptable on the ground" in Darfur and "the violence is targeted at aid workers (but) where the AU is deployed these things do not happen."

    "We are running a race against time, indeed it is a race against time," Annan said.

    Meanwhile, Annan is also expected to meet head of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement John Garang, who signed a peace agreement with the Sudanese government in January to end a separate and bloodier conflict in Sudan's south.  Enditem