Egyptian, Sudanese presidents discuss Darfur issue over telephone

CAIRO, Mar 13, 2005 (Xinhua) — Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and his Sudanese counterpart Omar Al-Bashir on Sunday discussed over phone the crisis in Sudan’s western Darfur region, Egypt’s official MENA news agency reported.

The two leaders talked about efforts exerted by Egypt and the African Union to contain the Darfur crisis, Egyptian presidential spokesman Soliman Awad was quoted as saying.

Egypt is mulling hosting a five-way African summit in the near future on the situation in Darfur to set the stage for the fourth round of peace talks between Khartoum and the Darfur rebels in the Nigerian capital Abuja.

Last October, leaders of Libya, Sudan, Egypt, Nigeria and Chad held a one-day summit in the Libyan capital Tripoli, vowing to solve the Darfur crisis within the AU framework.

The United Nations says the conflict in Darfur has created the world’s worst humanitarian crisis in which many have been killed and more others displaced.