Egypt pledges to help Sudan on Darfur

CAIRO, Sept 14 (AFP) — Egypt said on Tuesday it backed Sudanese efforts to resolve the crisis in the war-torn Darfur region, where tens of thousands have been killed since February last year.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak told Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail of his government’s “full support for the Sudanese government’s efforts to normalize the situation in the Darfur region,” said presidential spokesman Maged Abul Fatah.

Mubarak also expressed “Egypt’s full readiness to offer every assistance possible in order to achieve that and participate in any African or international effort that aims to help Sudan bring the situation under control.”

Mubarak also told Ismail that Egypt was in contact with the international community on how to deal with the crisis without escalating the situation.

The United States is seeking a vote this week on a draft UN resolution condemning Khartoum’s alleged failure to resolve the crisis in Darfur and threatening economic sanctions, a move Sudan says will not help the situation.

The 19-month conflict in the western Darfur region, which pits government forces and their militia allies against two main rebel groups, has been described by the United Nations as the world’s worst current humanitarian disaster.

The UN estimates that between 30,000 and 5,000 people have died in the conflict that has also displaced more than a million people from their homes and forced a further 180,000 to flee across the border in neighboring Chad.