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Al-Ahram Weekly 27 July - 2 August 2000 Issue No. 492 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 27 July - 2 August 2000 Issue No. 492
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Closing ranks
AS RELATIONS between Cairo and Khartoum continue to warm up, President Hosni Mubarak received on Monday a message from Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir delivered by Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail. AS PART of continued consultations among Arab leaders by telephone, the dispatch of envoys and in person, President Hosni Mubarak paid an unannounced visit to Saudi Arabia on Sunday for talks with King Fahd and Crown Prince Abdullah. Mubarak also conferred by long-distance telephone with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat several times and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak last weekend, both of whom were brainstorming on the framework of a final status agreement at Camp David, Maryland.
The focus of the Mubarak-Fahd talks in Jeddah was the ongoing negotiations between the Palestinians and Israelis which began on 11 July. After consultations, Cairo and Riyadh pledged "full support" for the Palestinian negotiating team, especially in its insistence on sovereignty over Eastern Jerusalem, the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Omar Ibin Al-Khattab Mosque and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Arabs fear that Arafat may be pressured into making compromises concerning sovereignty over the Islamic and Christian shrines in the Holy City.
The two sides also exchanged views on other sticking points in the Camp David talks, such as the return of Palestinian refugees, borders and Jewish settlements.
Arriving in Taif at noon on Sunday, Mubarak held talks with Crown Prince Abdullah over lunch and then travelled to Jeddah to meet with King Fahd. The leaders also discussed ways of cementing bilateral relations and creating an Arab Common Market. Mubarak has been trying to garner support for greater Arab economic integration for years.
Discussions also touched on the "peaceful" transfer of power in Damascus, with the election of Bashar Al-Assad to the presidency after his father's death.
Mubarak was accompanied on the visit, which lasted for a few hours, by Foreign Minister Amr Moussa, Information Minister Safwat El-Sherif and presidential adviser Osama El-Baz.
