The Sudanese ex-prime minister came to Paris to meet on July 20 the French secretary of state for Development Charles Josselin as leader of the Umma opposition party and not in the name of National Democratic Alliance (Sudanese joint opposition). Sadiq al Mahdi had not been mandated for this and he kept strictly to his role. His comments minimising  divisions within NDA, exaggerating his loyalty to the opposition union, and criticising the regime in Khartoum caught the French official on the wrong foot. Josselin is not a fine connoisseur of the realities of Sudanese politics and up until now has functioned on the basis of the pro-Khartoum by anti-American vision of the French ambassador to Sudan, Michel Raimbaud. Unshiftable in this function which no one wants this former French Communist Party militant and CGT union delegate in the foreign ministry was captivated by the Sudanese regime's openly displayed anti-Americanism. An Arabic speaker who married a Syrian, he has on the other hand always viewed colonel John Garang, the leader of the Southern Sudan rebellion, as a sort of henchman of the United States manipulated by countries such as Uganda which are considered to be hostile to France. These ideas, defended at great length in thousands of diplomatic memos fired off to Paris (often at a rate of several a day) have forged Josselin's certitude about the Sudanese dossier. But while Raimbaud was describing and al Mahdi who was close to the Sudanese government and was preparing his return to Khartoum, the man concerned told Josselin he had no intention of concluding a separate reconciliation with the regime and that he thought peace talks should continue within he framework of IGAD. He even allowed himself the luxury of exhorting Josselin not to take Khartoum propaganda as gospel and asked him in effect that, despite the war of interest against the United States, "France not shut its eyes to the real nature of the totalitarian and theocratic regime "in Khartoum. Josselin immediately wondered whether he would not now be obliged to talk directly to NDA leaders.