Egypt, Sudan postpone meeting among silent crisis

By Wasil Ali

Feb 8, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — The fifth meeting of the joint Egyptian-Sudanese committee’s that was scheduled to be held in Khartoum mid-February was unexpectedly postponed until March, a London based newspaper has reported.

The daily Al-Hayat was quoting an unidentified senior diplomat as saying that there is a “silent diplomatic crisis evolving between the two countries”.

Sources close to the Sudanese government told al Hayat that this is the second time that the Egyptian side has requested rescheduling of the meeting since 2005.

The same source was quoted as saying that there has been growing negative sentiments from Cairo towards Khartoum since the mini-summmit held in Libya last month that was boycotted by the Sudanese president Omar Hassan al-Bashir.

The source noted that the Egyptian-Libyan stance al-Bashir’s presidency of the African Union has forced him to withdraw his candidacy.

(ST)