Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Libya's Colonel Moamer Kadhafi held talks Sunday on the Middle East crisis and the situation in southern Sudan, a source close to the Egyptian presidency said.
They reviewed "the situation in the Palestinian territories, notably contacts undertaken by Egypt to face the escalation, as well as Arab affairs including the situation in southern Sudan."
Egypt and Libya have since 1999 co-sponsored a peace initiative aimed at maintaining Sudan's unity. Southern Sudan will hold a referendum on independence following six years of autonomous rule under a peace plan signed on Saturday by rebels and the Islamic government in Nairobi.
Libya's minister of African unity, Ali Abdel Salam Triki, and the head of the intelligence service, Ahmed Kaddaf al-Dam, were in Kadhafi's delegation which travelled to Cairo, AFP reported. Mubarak telephoned Kadhafi on Saturday to invite him to attend festivities to mark the 50th anniversary of the July 23, 1952 revolution which abolished Egypt's monarchy, according to an official Libyan source.
Meanwhile, Sudan's political forces on Sunday welcomed the peace agreement as a "basic step to stop fighting andbring peace in the country." Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir welcomed the agreement, describing it as a "basic step in the right direction of development, peace and stability in the country."
The government will back any step aiming to end the 19-year civil war in the Sudan, Bashir said. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
