Moussa conveys a message from Mubarak to Al-Bashir

Egypt's Foreign Minister Amr Moussa yesterday conveyed a message from President Mubarak to Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir including congratulations for his re-election for a second presidential term.

Emerging from the meeting with Bashir, Moussa told MENA that message also included issues pertaining to bilateral ties.

He added that President Bashir entrusted him with a reply message to President Mubarak.

Answering a query on the stalemate in the joint Egypt-Libya peace plan on Sudan, Foreign Minster Amr Moussa saw no stalemate, as he expressed belief that it was not possible to measure progress on a daily basis because of the complex nature of matters involved. But Moussa stressed there was progress as regards the initiative, which made a leap in dealing with the Sudanese problem.

Thanks to the initiative, the circle of dialogue widened to include sudan's neighbours, he said.

The plan, Moussa said was tabled on the agenda of the comprehensive reconciliation issue in Sudan.

The plan not only took what was going in the south and how the Inter-Governmental Authority for Development (IGAD) saw it, but the entire Sudanese situation, including keeping its territorial sovereignty and the unity of its people.

Amr Moussa said that the joint peace plan was not contradictory to the IGAD as coordination between both plans started in november when Khartoum's summit met with the attendance of the parties of the IGAD and the joint Egypt-Libya peace plan.

When asked about Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLA) leader George Garang, Moussa said that there was no difference between the north and south leaders, each had a certain position that should be brought on the table of negotiations.

"War would not solve any problem, Garang knows that, "he said.

Amr Moussa said a new Sudan couldn't be the product of war because war would cast doubts on the party that wanted to sustaineit.

"The table of negotiations is present and this is the goal of the Egypt-Libya peace plan," he said.

On Egypt-Sudan relations, Moussa said our relations should be maintained at a high level of joint action.

Such perception would be crystallised at successive meetings at various levels political, social, and economic, through exchanging visits by various ministers, he noted.

Moussa expounded that such meetings would come as a compliment but as a method of dealings between both states.

Egypt-Sudan file was opened anew upon scientific foundations.

Moussa told the Middle East News Agency that Egypt would take part in the international Khartoum fair on February 1.

A set of agreements were signed on cooperation in tourism, preventing dual taxation, and setting up joint projects in agriculture and animal wealth, he added.

Egypt and Sudan were keen on ending all pending problems on the Egyptian property in Sudan and there were no big problems.

On the contrary, cultural cooperation contunes after Eqyptian President Hosni Mubarak exempted Sudanese students in Egypt from tuitin fees as Egyptian students.

On Sudanese debts owed to Egypt, Moussa said there was an agreement to settle them without putting burdens on the Sudanese.

Asked about prospects for Middle East peace under the new government, Moussa said that the crisis of peace did not end.

What was important was solving political problems within the peace framework because anger on the Palestinian and Arab streets was triggered by the attitude of procrastination and stalemate in the peace process.

Moussa was hopeful that the new administration would resume its pro-peace role because its role was important to realise just and balanced peace.

The key was not to attempt to impose one-sided anti- Arab and Palestinian peace, which was the reason behind the eruption of the Intifada.

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