Mubarak in Algeria to settle difference on UN forces in Darfur

Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak arrived in Algeria on Sunday in a several hours visit during which he discussed with Algerian peer Abdul Aziz Butaflika "the decisions concluded by the Arab summit," according to the Egyptian Middle East New Agency MENA.

Mubarak's visit comes on the background of reports on Egyptian- Algerian differences on the position concerning the deployment of UN forces in Darfur that surfaced during the close-door sessions of the Arab Khartoum summit held last week.

Arab diplomats said that Egypt has called on the government of Sudan for more flexibility in the negotiations with the two rebels in Darfur in order to reach quickly a peace agreement that averts it confrontation with the UN or the African Union, while the Algerian position is in support of Sudan's sovereignty and rejection to deployment of UN forces, vowing to enhance the number of the military units taking part in the African Union AU force.

On March 24th, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution that calls on the UN secretary general Kofi Annan to provide recommendations on means of rapid deployment of the UN forces in Darfur.

The US which supports the draft resolution claims it was based on a resolution taken by the African Union Security Council three weeks earlier. However, Sudan which had welcomed the same decision by the "African Peace And Security Council" noted that this resolution stresses "the necessity of Khartoum endorsing" any transfer of African Union forces to the UN forces, and Khartoum does not endorse such a transfer.