Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Thursday called off a scheduled meeting with Palestinian prime minister Ahmed Qurei, according to Palestinian sources.
Qurei will instead meet intelligence chief General Omar Suleiman and presidential advisor Usama al-Baz, an official said, according to AFP. He provided no explanation why the meeting was called off.
The Qurei-Mubarak talks had been announced by both the state news agency MENA and the government-owned daily Al-Ahram. Qurei was expected to meet with the Egyptian President in Cairo on Thursday. The Palestinian PM arrived in Egypt on Wednesday night, after Mubarak met with CIA director George Tenet.
Mubarak appeared on state television on Wednesday night just hours after a London-based Islamist group alleged he had been admitted to hospital in "critical condition".
The president, aged 76, was shown meeting with Defense Minister Mohammed Hussein Tantawi and then talking to two reporters outside what appeared to be his residence.
During his brief encounter, Mubarak confirmed that Cairo had offered to train Palestinian security forces as part of efforts to prepare for a planned Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.
The Mubarak-Tantawi meeting was originally scheduled to take place on Thursday, but was brought forward, according to an official source.
State television said Mubarak held talks earlier Wednesday with the outgoing director of the CIA George Tenet, but without showing footage of the meeting.
The president's appearance on television followed a report by Al-Maqreze Center for Historical Studies that cited unidentified sources in Cairo as saying Mubarak had been hospitalized.
It should be noted that in November, illness forced Mubarak to halt a keynote speech to parliament for 45 minutes before he returned, still pale and hoarse, to finish his comments. Officials said at the time Mubarak was suffering from a "severe flu".
According to diplomatic sources, the president recently underwent medical tests for persistent pain in the knee joints that caused him to stumble during a May 27-29 visit to the Russian capital. (Albawaba.com)
© 2004 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
