Mubarak starts today a visit to Algeria, Morocco

A source close to the Egyptian Presidency announced yesterday that the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak will start today a tour that will take him to Algeria and Morocco, where his talks will deal with the Palestinian and Iraqi files.

The same source explained that Mubarak's talks with his Algerian counterpart Abdul Aziz Butaflika and with the Moroccan King Mohammed VI will deal with efforts made to implement the "roadmap" and recent developments in Iraq.

The source continued that Mubarak will brief the officials on the results of the US Secretary of State Colin Powell's visit to Cairo and he will return back to Egypt tomorrow.

On Monday, Powell visited Egypt and announced following his talks with Mubarak that the Israelis and Palestinians should start taking practical measures to restore confidence and start the implementation of the roadmap.