Egyptian mediation efforts to contain Syrian - Turkish crisis meet obstacles

Well-informed Arab diplomatic sources told the Kuwaiti daily al-Anba on Sunday that Egyptian mediation efforts to contain the Turkish-Syrian crisis are meeting real difficulties. The paper noted that Cairo was surprised by Ankara's refusal to hold a direct meeting between the two countries after it had earlier consented during the visit of the Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa to Ankara last week.

The sources did not rule out that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who held talks with his senior aides on Saturday regardin the developments in the crisis, will shortly make visits to both Turkey and Syria.