Egypt supports efforts to realize peace in Sudan

CAIRO, Egypt, June 18, 2005 (MENA) — President Hosni Mubarak on Saturday asserted his keen interest in and personal follow-up of the Sudanese people’s efforts to establish peace in their homeland, pointing out that Egypt supports all efforts aimed at realizing peace in southern Sudan.

Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir (L) talks to opposition National Democratic Alliance (NDA) leader Osman al-Mirghani (C), while Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak (R) listens to them, before signing the Sudanese peace agreement in Cairo June 18, 2005. (Reuters).

Addressing the ceremony of signing the national reconciliation agreement between the Sudanese government and the Democratic National Alliance in Cairo on Saturday, Mubarak said out of Egypt’s experience in pushing forward the peace process in the area, the best way to implement and protect peace agreements is through the will of the signatory parties.

The comprehensive national reconciliation accord in Sudan is a historic step that has put an end to tragic war that went on for two decades of bitter and harsh consequences, he said.

President Mubarak said signing the accord was a historic step along the road to an all-out national reconciliation in Sudan, pointing out to brotherly ties between Egypt and Sudan which are considered as one nation “sharing one Nile and one heart”.

He pointed out that the signing of the accord was the fruit of genuine and strenuous efforts to realize reconciliation between the government and the Democratic National Alliance and a continuation of the peace agreement in the south between the government and the Sudanese People’s Liberation Movement which was signed in Kenya on 9 January.

Such agreements put an end to tragic war, he said, adding that he personally followed up with concern efforts exerted by the Sudanese people to reach such peace throughout a tough process led by President Omar al-Bashir, Vice-President Ali Osman Taha and, leader of Sudan People’s Liberation Movement John Garang.

He reiterated his directives that Egypt exerts all efforts to realize peace in south Sudan and eliminate all obstacles that hamper reaching a final peace agreement. He expressed Egypt’s appreciation of such important accomplishment and of everyone who made it a reality from inside or outside Sudan.

President Mubarak said the spirit of the Cairo accord and the Naivasha agreement reached previously should be an inspiration to tenacious efforts to reach a peaceful solution to the crisis in Darfur through comprehensive understandings and within a purely African framework that realizes the aspirations of the Sudanese citizens.

He voiced confidence that the peace process in Sudan would move ahead and reach out to Darfur and elsewhere in the country and that the Sudanese people would be forever united.

He asserted Egypt’s support for Sudan in establishing all-out peace, stability and unity and wished the Sudanese brothers all success.