IRAQI Foreign Minister Said Al-Sahhaf was expected in Cairo last night for talks with Foreign Minister Amr Moussa. The talks were supposed to focus on efforts to re-integrate Iraq into the Arab world after seven years of almost complete isolation.
Asked about the potentials for a full and imminent re-integration of Iraq into Arab ranks, Moussa said: "We are working very hard to unify Arab ranks, particularly at a time when we are faced with serious challenges."
Moussa added that while trying to overcome existing problems "we should not forget that Iraq is part of the Arab world and that we do care about the interest and welfare of the Iraqi people now and in the future."
Sudan aid
EGYPT is sending 80 tons of medical and other relief supplies to southern Sudan as part of international efforts to help deal with the famine that has killed thousands of people. The supplies are expected to be air-lifted today aboard two cargo planes bound for Khartoum and Nairobi. They will then be delivered to UN relief workers in charge of distribution.
Egyptian officials stress that the aid, to be divided into two batches to facilitate distribution, is a strictly humanitarian gesture with no political connotations. "We are sending these supplies to the people of Sudan who have been struck by a devastating famine," said one official.
Gaps remain
PALESTINIAN President Yasser Arafat said substantial differences remain to be resolved before Israeli proposals on withdrawing from a further 13 per cent of the West Bank can be accepted.
Returning from Oslo on Tuesday Arafat stressed the agreement must be implemented on the ground in accordance with the US initiative although he agreed in principle that some 3 per cent of the land to be transferred could be a natural reserve, implying at least temporary restrictions on Palestinian powers, AFP reported.
Officials on both the Israeli and Palestinian sides said gaps still have to be narrowed concerning the location of the land to be transferred and the exact powers granted to the Palestinian Authority in each zone. Israel also set a long list of conditions, including confiscation of illegal weapons, a reduction in the size of the Palestinian police force and a crackdown on Islamist and other militant groups opposed to the peace process.
