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Mubarak Supports Sudanese National Unity
CAIRO, May 13 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said he supported Sudanese national unity over a decades-long civil war in Southern Sudan at a summit held with Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir Sunday, news agencies reported.
The two leaders discussed an Egyptian-Libyan initiative to solve a civil war in the African country. Egypt and Libya are leading a joint effort to reconcile the Muslim and Arab government in Khartoum with the majority animist and Christian rebels in the south, who have been at war since 1983.
Cairo desires to prevent a separation from occurring in Sudan to avoid having to deal with two parties on the vital issue of Nile water resources.
Mubarak said Egypt "supports the national unity of Sudan and is committed to making every necessary effort" to bring peace and stability to the country, Egypt's official news agency, the Middle East News Agency, (MENA) reported.
Bashir thanked Mubarak for his "positions in support of Sudan on the regional and international levels," the agency said.
The two leaders were also due to discuss "the total normalization of bilateral relations," economic projects, means of facilitating the flow of goods and capital between the two countries and within the Middle East, Sudanese Ambassador to Cairo Ahmed Abdel Halim said before the meeting.
Egyptian Information Minister Safwat al-Sherif said after the Summit that Mubarak and Beshir agreed on the need to "do away with barriers [between the two countries] regarding the movement of goods and people".
"The meetings covered political and economic questions, with the aim of reinforcing cooperation between the two countries," Sherif was quoted by MENA as saying.
Egyptian-Sudanese relations were severely affected after a June 1995 assassination attempt on Mubarak in Addis Ababa. Egypt accused Khartoum of involvement in the failed attempt. Relations between both countries picked up in December 1999 after Bashir ceased the activities of Sudanese Islamist leader and former parliamentary speaker Hassan al-Turabi.
In a telling example of the thaw in relations between the two Arab Muslim nations, Egypt appointed an ambassador to Sudan, Mohamed Assem, who took office in Khartoum a year ago.
On Thursday, Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi visited Khartoum for talks with Bashir on the joint initiative. He told reporters on his arrival at Khartoum airport that his visit comes in the context of "ongoing consultations" between the leaderships of the two countries on issues of mutual concern.
Moreover, the East African Inter-Governmental Authority for Development (IGAD) in Nairobi, is sponsoring parallel efforts to bring peace to Sudan, but it is limited to peace talks between Khartoum and the rebels in the south of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA).
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