Mubarak urges African leaders to improve security, resolve disputes to enhance development
Egypt-Regional, Politics, 2/28/2004

Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak yesterday urged African Leaders to support endeavours to improve the security situation and resolve disputes that are deemed crucial for regional integration and development in the continent.

President Mubarak stressed that the establishment of the African Union and the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) represented two of the most important initiatives since peoples of the continent got independence.

In his speech to a closed session of an extraordinary summit by the AU, which opened yesterday in this Libyan resort city, President Mubarak said that these two initiatives were home-grown and constituted a way out of the poverty problem in Africa and attempts to marginalize it.

Minister of Information Safwat El-Sherif told reporters that the President had outlined five challenges that were facing the African continent.

The President said that these challenges were bolstering security and stability, resolving disputes through peaceful means, solving the problem of refugees, effecting economic and social development, promoting economic integration; keeping pace with progress in sciences and information and communication technology (ICT); respecting human rights and supporting democratic changes, maximizing the African role in the building of a fairer and more democratic international system.

El-Sherif added that the President in his talks with number of African heads of state stressed the need to stick to all the principles of the African Charter and the constitutional law of the AU.

"The President expressed his deep gratitude to the Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi's call for making best use of water resources to help produce the continent's needs of food," he said.

"President Mubarak also expressed appreciation to the Libyan Leader's call to hold the summit that reflected comprehensive vision and determination to seriously cope with the challenges that are facing the continent during this critical stage," El- Sherif told reporters.

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