Mubarak, Gaddafi tackle Sudan issue

The Sudanese daily al-Rai al-Aam in its Wednesday issue expected that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Libyan President Moammar Gaddafi discussed the Sudanese problem between the government and the opposition during Gaddafi's current visit to Cairo.

The Sudanese paper added that the chairman of the Sudanese opposition coalition, Muhammad Othman al-Merghani, who resides abroad, left the British capital for Cairo, suddenly.

Meanwhile, political sources in London, according to the paper, expected that al-Merghani's travel to Cairo intends to facilitate a meeting with Gaddafi as it had been decided that Tripoli will host the Sudanese opposition's four-member committee -- al-Merghani, al-Sadeq al-Mahdi, John Garang and Farouk Abu Issa -- in the middle of this month.

The paper added that the Egyptian leadership will meet with the Sudanese four-member committee in the presence of Egyptian Deputy Premier Youssef Wali.

Observers expected internal political detente after the Sudanese government and the opposition showed certain flexibility in the process of proposed reconciliation operation advocated by the Libyan president and the president of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Zayed, and covert Egyptian support.