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Wednesday, November 09, 2005
President Hosni Mubarak and visiting UN Secretary General Kofi Annan dealt with the latest developments in the Middle East and Africa, Presidential Spokesman Soliman Awwad said on Wednesday. Ambassador Awwad said that the talks focused on the situation in the Palestinian territories after Israel's pullout from the Gaza Strip and UN Security Council resolution 1636 on Syria. The situation on Sudan, he added, was also on the agenda especially the troubled Darfur region and peace talks in Abuja, Nigeria. The President and Annan also debated the status quo in the Horn of Africa and the latest escalation in the region . Awwad said that Annan expressed his deep appreciation of Mubarak's role on the Arab and African arenas. On Syria, the presidential spokesman said that Annan briefed President Mubarak on the outcome of his talks with UN Security Council permanent member states, especially the United States and France, the two countries which have brokered UNSC resolutions 1559 and 1636. The President and Annan, he added, do see eye to eye on the importance of dealing wisely with the implementation of resolution 1636 given that Damascus pledged full cooperation with UN investigation into the killing of former Lebanese premier Rafiq al-Hariri. As for reports on holding a mini-Arab summit, Egyptian Presidential Spokesman Soliman Awwad said that he had no official information on the issue. Answering a question on the nature of the following steps on the form and venue of a trial to be held for anybody proven guilty in the murder case of former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri, Awwad said the issue is under consideration. He held that what mattered was to ensure progress of cooperation between Syria and the international commission investigating Hariri's murder until Detlev Mehlis, the commission chief, would present his report to the UN Security Council in mid December. Regarding the Palestinian and Iraqi dossiers, the presidential spokesman said that Mubarak and Annan discussed means of ending the foreign occupation of Iraq. Regarding the Palestinian situation, Annan expressed the UN's deep appreciation of the role played by President Mubarak to help attain full Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. President Mubarak and Annan, he noted, were in full in agreement that the Palestinians should feel a real improvement in their daily life. |
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