Moussa on the Egyptian-Libyan initiative, meets El-Mahdi
Egypt, Politics, 11/30/1999

Foreign Minister Amr Moussa said everybody is working not to dilute efforts exerted to solve the problem of Sudan.

Moussa said the agreement reached in Djibouti between the Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir and Head of Ummah Party Sadek El-Mahdi which yielded a declaration of principles to solve the Sudanese crisis, included some points which do not conform with talks held by Egypt with both Mahdi and the Sudanese Foreign Minister.

Moussa told reporters on Monday that the declaration released following Bashir-Mahdi meeting "Needs explanation and could not be accepted as it is." This was the first Egyptian response to the Djibouti declaration.

Moussa expounded that he witnessed during the intensive contacts held on Monday with all parties concerned with the Sudanese question, that there was a lot of opposition and complaints that the declaration is not clear adding that this will be discussed with Mahdi during their meeting Monday evening.

Asked whether Djibouti agreement caused a split in efforts to achieve reconciliation in Sudan, Moussa said at least it raised many question marks and caused concern in the political street even in Khartoum itself.

Moussa also called for channeling all efforts towards one objective namely finding a radical solution to the problem of Sudan. "The Egyptian-Libyan initiative on Sudan aims to prevent any possibility of dividing Sudan," Moussa further said.

He denied that the US prefers the IGAD initiative more than the Egyptian-Libyan one, noting that the latter seeks to achieve certain goals. "Egypt is determined to push the Egyptian-Libyan initiative forward and to follow up the contacts with the government of Sudan and opposition to assess the situation in the country," Moussa added.

"The two initiatives exist and understanding is maintained between the IGAD on one hand and Egypt and Libya on the other," he explained. The statement issued in Djibouti demonstrated that half of the participants had agreed on the Egyptian-Libyan initiative while the other half did not attack it, according to Moussa.

Later on today. Moussa met tonight with El-Mahdi, the chief of the Sudanese opposition Ummah Party, who is currently visiting Cairo. The meeting lasted nearly an hour.

Regarding whether question mark still exist concerning the agreement signed in Djibouti between Sudanese President Omar El-Bashir and El-Mahdi, Moussa said, "The question marks still exist."

Concerning El-Sadek El-Mahdi's explanation presented to the Egyptian foreign minister regarding this agreement, Moussa said, "El-Mahdi sees that this meeting is a declaration of the intentions, and the two sides still have a lot to achieve, like these intentions which are still of many conditions," adding that El-Mahdi said to him that he has not stepped away from the general position of the opposition.

Previous Stories:
  Qatari - Egyptian meetings in December   (11/29/1999)
  El-Bashir to visit Cairo next month   (11/27/1999)
  Al-Bashir may visit Cairo next month   (11/23/1999)

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