Report: Mubarak warns against terrorism, Israeli policy, and Sudan's government

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has newly warned about Israel's anti-peace policy in the Middle East.

In an interview with the Egyptian daily al-Ahram published on Wednesday, the Egyptian president warned against Israel's possession of nuclear weapons and mass weapons of destruction that threaten the region's security and stability, and compel other countries to possess such weapons.

"The Israeli possession of such weapons may leave other countries in the region with no option but to reply in kind and have the same arms," he told Al-Ahram. "And here lies the danger, since if any party goes to the extremes and use such arms, the fallout will afflict the whole region," he argued.

The president called for re-channelling the money spent on such weapons into other spheres of avail to poor countries. The Egyptian President added that the Israeli leaders adopt the "logic of war" and refuse to return Arab rights to their owners.

He called for accelerating activities in establishing the "common Arab market so as to achieve an Arab economic bloc to compete with world blocs." He said Egypt has already embarked on setting up free trade zones with some Arab countries, including Tunisia and Morocco. He said this way the larger market will finally be created. He emphasized that such a market is an imperative demand and that its idea has been there even before the establishment of the European common market, Al-Ahram reported.

In the interview, President Mubarak reiterated his warning against the terrorist groups who are in many western countries. Mubarak added that he warned the west of terrorism but his remarks were brushed aside and were not taken seriously until most recently. He called for an international and unilateral action on this issue and for the holding of an international conference on terrorism. He told Al-Ahram "Chaos would prevail over the whole world, specially with the advent of globalization and the application of GATT (General Agreement on Tarrifs and Trade), which will render the rich richer and the poor poorer and subsequently terrorism will put on a very ugly face."

Commenting on Sudan, Mubarak said "Egypt's sympathy with the Sudanese people dictates a set of decisions and stances on our part toward this people but not toward the regime of Sudan." He added that there are some 5 million Sudanese living in Egypt that have Egypt's sympathy which prevents Egypt from taking stronger measures against the "elusive" Sudanese government. Mubarak's remarks refer to the fact the Sudan has many times the return of Egyptian property (in Sudan), and spoke of healing relations with Egypt (as recently as last week in the comments by the Sudanese foreign minister to ArabicNews.com), yet no concrete actions have been taken in this regard.

He accused the Sudan of sheltering terrorism. Mubarak said it is probable that the Sudanese medicinal factory which was destroyed by the US was used to produce chemical weapons compounds.

Mubarak was quoted by Al-Ahram as saying, "We know it is a factory for producing medicines, but, in fact, it can manufacture materials conducive to producing chemical weapons." He added that Sudan has another factory for producing chemicals near al-Shifaa factory, which was exposed to US military strikes on August 20.