Moussa meets Annan on terrorism
Regional, Politics, 10/27/2001

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan met Friday night with Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa.

In statements to MENA, Moussa said that the three item agenda of the meeting tackled terrorism, the situation in the Middle East and the clash of civilizations.

"There was an exchange of viewpoints over Middle East and Afghanistan issues," said Moussa.

Asked about his visit to Washington, Moussa said that it was dedicated to the Arab communities and tackled the recent developments in the Palestinian issue as well as the clash of civilizations.

On US officials linkage between military operations against Afghanistan, which Washington wants to continue during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, and the October war, Moussa said the comparison is false as the Ramadan war was a liberation one.

Moussa said that he shares President Hosni Mubarak's opinion that frustration in the Middle East is largely due to the absence of a solution to the Palestinian cause.

In an interview with the CNN Friday night, Moussa said that the major cause of fury and frustration in the Mideast and the Arab and Islamic worlds is the Israeli-Palestinian confrontations and lack of enough pressures that would force Israel to quit occupation policies.

"The fact that Egypt and Jordan have ties with Israel, would not change their own policies as they adopt a firm stance against Israeli policies toward the Palestinians," said Moussa.

He added that he discussed with State Secretary Colin Powell the real policy and steps needed to serve peace and alleviate tension.

"Arab countries have adopted firm stances against terrorism but the situation in the Middle East is very volatile and it is time to adopt a clear-cut policy that could yield results," Moussa said.

He underlined that an Israeli withdrawal would certainly help ease the situation and score progress for holding negotiations.

Asked whether the US criticizes Egypt or Saudi Arabia on their stance over Afghanistan, Moussa said that he heard no criticism to Saudi Arabia or Egypt despite some articles.

On Osama Ben Laden, Moussa said that he is not a representative of the Arab and Islamic world and he had never spoken of the Palestinians issue.

"There is no relation between the attacks and the quest for just solutions to the Middle East crisis," said Moussa.

On Mullah Mohammad Omar's call for Muslims and Arabs to support Taliban, Moussa said that this government did not have Arab or Muslim support and it had ties with only two or three Arab and Muslim countries before the eruption of the crisis.

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