President Mubarak urges Sudan to commit to obligations

President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt on Tuesday urged Khartoum to "commit itself to its obligations" so as to ease the relations between the two countries.

Egyptian Information Minister Safwat al-Sharif quoted President Mubarak as saying upon receiving the parliamentary committee of the ruling Democratic National Party his assertion of Egypt's wish to "establish good relations with Sudan."

The Egyptian President added that Egypt had agreed with the Sudanese officials to form joint committees following a visit made by the late Sudanese vice President al-Zubeir Saleh, adding that "until now the picture is still vague."

"What is needed now is to carry out what had been previously agreed upon," he added.

Al-Zubeir Saleh, who was killed in a plane crash last February, had visited Cairo in October 1997 and was successful in bridging the gap between the two countries following a long period of tension. However, since then no practical progress has been registered toward developing bilateral relations except in coordinating matters relating to waters of the Nile and restarting navigation between Aswan and the Sudanese "Wadi Halfa."

Meanwhile, Sudanese daily al-Rai al-Akhar (the other's view) has reported that Islamic leader Hassan al-Turabi intends to resign from the presidency of the Sudanese National Council so he can dedicate all his efforts for the leadership of the "Islamic people's congress," which represents international Islamic movements and takes al-Khartoum as a headquarters.