UN Security Council invites Egypt to Nairobi session on Sudan

CAIRO, 16 Nov, 2004 (Xinhua) — The United Nations Security Council has invited Egypt to take part in its special session on Sudan set to open on Nov. 18-19 in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi, the official MENA news agency reported Tuesday.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit. (AFP).

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit would lead a delegation to the session, according to MENA.

The foreign minister was quoted as saying that he would expound the Egyptian views on restoring peace and stability in Sudan.

He added that the UN Security Council session in Nairobi came at a critical moment as Arab and African countries were making efforts to put an end to war and bring about peace in the country.

The minister said Egypt would call for integrated peace efforts in the southern, western and eastern regions of Sudan in a bid to achieve a comprehensive solution to the problems.

Abul Gheit will also call on the international community to back peace efforts in Sudan through providing reconstruction funds in economic and social projects.

Egypt took part in a mini-summit on Sudan’s Darfur issue in the Libyan capital of Tripoli last month.

Leaders of Libya, Sudan, Egypt, Nigeria and Chad vowed at the summit to reject foreign intervention “in this purely African question.”

The ambassadors of member states of the UN Security Council are scheduled to travel to Kenya on Tuesday to press for an end to the 21-year-old civil war between the Sudanese government and southern rebels and to help stop a bloody conflict in the western Darfur region.

The meeting will also deal with the situation in Somalia, another conflict-plaguing African country.