KHARTOUM, June 27 (AFP) -- The Sudanese government has made a number of positive gestures on the issue of the war-torn western region of Darfur ahead of visits by United States Secretary of State Colin Powell and United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan.

Powell and Annan are due here next week to step up pressure on the Khartoum government to resolve the 16-month conflict raging in Darfur, disband pro-government Arab militia groups terrorizing the local population and restore a semblance of order and normalcy in the region.

The Sudanese government has officially welcomed both visits and said it is prepared to join efforts with the international community in finding a solution to the conflict.

"We welcome Secretary General Kofi Annan's visit to Sudan," Foreign Minister Mostafa Osman Ismail told reporters on the eve of the trip by the UN chief.

Ismail extended the same courtesy to Powell, whose visit will be the first by a US secretary of state to Sudan in decades. But he added that he hoped these visits would be helpful to the people of Darfur and not be simply used to put pressure on the government.

The minister also claimed that his government was "doing everything it can in order to restore normalcy in Darfur and welcomes the assistance of the international community to help it achieve this."

Ismail was referring to a series of recent measures adopted by the government aimed at assuring critics and the international community that it was committed to bringing peace to the troubled Darfur region.

He specifically cited the appointment of Interior Minister General Abdel Rahim Mohamed Hussein as President Omar al-Bashir's special representative in Darfur. Hussein's mission officially started on Thursday with a visit to the region and meetings with officials there on the security and humanitarian situation.

He told reporters later that his task was to "ensure the safety of the citizens from all forms of violence", "the delivery of humanitarian assistance to the needy" and "secure the villages" in order to allow those displaced to return before the rainy season sets in.

Sources close to the government conceded that Hussein's main task will be to try to make good on a pledge by Bashir to rein in the Janjaweed militia and disarm it and the other pro-government groups blamed for much of the destruction in the region.

Hussein will also have to provide sufficient security to the local black population who feel let down by the government, which they accuse of colluding with Arab militias against them.

Bashir has meanwhile removed the governor of South Darfur state, General Adam Hamid Moussa, and appointed Atta al-Manan Idris, a civilian, to replace him.

No official explanation was given for the decision, but the move was widely seen by observers here as the beginning of a process to weed out officials believed to have actively or passively encouraged the violence in the region.

The visit by Powell and Annan will also coincide with the holding in Paris of direct discussions between the Sudanese government and rebels of the Justice and Equality Movement.

Khartoum hopes to use this to show that it is serious about putting an end to the conflict.

Both Washington and the UN have consistently urged Khartoum to resolve the conflict swiftly or the international community will be forced to act.

"If the Sudanese government doesn't have the capacity to protect its population, the international community must be prepared to assist," Annan said recently.

Powell expressed similar concern.

"This is a catastrophe and it is incumbent on the international community to come together solidly to do everything we can to bring it to an end to bring relief to these desperate people," he said.

More than 10,000 people have died in Darfur, one million been displaced and a further 120,000 refugees have poured across the western border into Chad since the rebellion by black African groups against the Arab- dominated government in Khartoum broke out in February 2003.