Moussa warns against further imbalance in peacemaking
Egypt, Politics, 1/10/2001

Egypt's Foreign Minister Amr Moussa said the peace process was passing through a very critical stage, adding the comprehensive peace required extensive efforts and a true political will.

He told reporters on arrival to Saudi Arabia from Sudan that he hoped a breakthrough could be achieved before the end of US President Bill Clinton's term in office.

"We hope an agreement could be reached, but we want it to be fair and balanced. We don't want time constraints to result in more imbalance in the peace process," he said.

He praised Clinton's sincere efforts to broker a deal between the Palestinians and Israelis.

"Clinton made tremendous efforts but unfortunately couldn't reach comprehensive solution to the crisis because of the serious problems which afflicted the process in the past few months," he said.

He rejected claims that the US President's recent ideas were exact formulas proposed by the Israelis, arguing that the ideas touched on several sensitives issues which the Palestinians couldn't accept as they are.

"The American ideas were meant to be a framework for a solution and were not forced on the Palestinians," he said.

Moussa will meet his Saudi counterpart Prince al-Faisal Saud to discuss peacemaking efforts as well as means of enhancing bilateral cooperation.

In Khartoum, Moussa delivered President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir a message from PresidentHosni Mubarak congratulating him on his victory in the presidential elections.

He also met with his Sudanese counterpart Moustafa Osman Ismail and agreed to establish a joint follow-up committee to oversee the implementation of the rÈsolutions of the ministerial committee.

Moussa denied that the Egyptian-Libyan initiative to achieve peace in Sudan was paralysed, adding that there was no way to measure the progress of this initiative on a daily basis.

The Foreign Minister added that the initiative allowed for discussing very sensitive issues, explaining that it took into consideration the entire situation in Sudan not only the dispute in southern Sudan.

He asserted that the Egyptian-Libyan initiative was not contradictory with the Igad initiative.

Previous Stories:
  Baz warns against Israel waging a regional war   (1/9/2001)
  Moussa starts a tour of three Arab states   (1/8/2001)
  Frustration and anger in the ME, behind unresolved political problem   (1/8/2001)

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