Sudanese & Egyptian presidents discuss Darfur

July 12, 2009 (KHARTOUM) — The Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir met in Cairo today with his Egyptian counterpart to discuss political efforts to resolve the Darfur crisis.

This is the second visit by Bashir since the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for him last March.

The trip comes as Cairo invited several rebel groups this month for talks on uniting their negotiating position in an apparent bid to play a bigger role.
Qatar has been hosting talks between Khartoum and Darfur Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) amid reports that Egypt has been unhappy to be sidelined in the initiative.

This week the Qatari state minister for foreign affairs Ahmed Bin-Abdullah Al-Mahmood speaking to reporters today in Khartoum said that there is no coordination with Cairo in this regard and that Libya is playing a vital role in bringing the rebel groups together.

The Egyptian official news agency (MENA) quoted deputy head of Egypt’s intelligence services Omar Qenawy, as calling on “all factions and movements to unite their viewpoints and their ranks”.

MENA quoted an unidentified Egyptian official as saying the Sudanese government has given its approval to Egypt’s initiative.

The rebel factions in Cairo included the United Resistance Front (URF), and the Sudan Liberation Movement Unity faction.

Bashir is in Egypt to attend the Non-Aligned Movement summit in the coastal town of Sharm Al-Sheik.

Relations between the two countries have undergone a silent crisis primarily after Sudan brushed aside an Egyptian proposal for an international conference in Darfur last March.

The Sudanese president described his country’s relation with Egypt as “neither cold nor warm” in a break of the tradition of asserting the “strategic and long standing” ties with the Northern neighbor.

This week the Kuwaiti based Al-Jarida newspaper cited Sudanese “informed sources” who accused Egypt of hosting rebel groups to use them as a “pressure card” on the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) at a time of worsening relations between the two countries.

(ST)