Al-Bashir - Zenawi summit postponed

News reports in Cairo said that the tripartite summit which was due on Monday between the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, and the Ethiopian prime minister Malas Zenawi might be postponed until today, Tuesday.

The tripartite summit was due to discuss relations between the three countries especially Sudanese- Ethiopian relations and the possibility of joining joint projects on the waters of the Nile which flows in the lands of the three countries. This was expressed following the announcement made by Ethiopia and Egypt that traditional differences between them over the distribution of the water of the Nile has become part of the past following talks between Mubarak and Zenawi on Monday.

Today, Sharm al-Sheikh, Egypt, hosts the African partnership summit for development which includes Egypt, Algeria, Nigeria, Senegal and South Africa. The rebel Sudan's liberation movement in Darfur, to the east of Sudan, hosts the Egyptian president and the Ethiopian prime minister in order to pressure the Sudanese president to implement UN Security Council resolutions concerning Darfur.

In a message sent to Mubarak, the movement said it totally rejects any bargaining or concessions over the trial of war criminals before international justice.