With the US pressuring Sudan to solve the crisis in Darfur, Egypt has once again stepped in as a regional mediator. Reem Nafie reports Egypt stepped up its ongoing efforts to help Sudan resolve the ongoing crisis in Darfur, fearful the deteriorating situation there could harm the fragile peace and stability of Sudan as a whole. This week, President Hosni Mubarak met with Sudanese Vice President Ali Othman Mohamed Taha, the first such meeting between Egypt and Sudan since the signing of a peace agreement between Khartoum and the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), which led to the formation of a national unity government in January 2005. International sanctions slapped on Sudan since 1997 have compounded the fragile Sudanese government's burden. Last week, these sanctions were extended -- thanks to US pressure -- as a result of Sudan's failure to stop the violence in Darfur. The US has been accusing the Sudanese government of adopting an ethnic-cleansing policy in the conflict- stricken region. Following the meeting with Mubarak, Taha told reporters that Western accusations about the conflict in Darfur being "genocide" are "exaggerated". "The conflict in Darfur was tribal... not a political or ethnic cleansing issue," he said. Taha described the problem as being "entirely different from what some people abroad had pictured it". Earlier in the week, during a lecture at Cairo University, Taha said Sudan would be doing its utmost to solve the crisis. He harboured great hopes that the seventh round of peace talks between rebel groups in Darfur and the Sudanese government, due to start in Abuja, Nigeria, later this month, would yield substantial results. "The Sudanese government is trying its best to solve the Darfur issue and hopefully with the aid of nations such as Egypt and other African countries, we will be able to do so," Taha said. The African Union (AU) brokered a cease- fire between two main Darfur rebel groups -- the SPLA and the Justice and Equality Movement -- and the Sudanese government in April 2004. Although the AU has been searching for a lasting solution since then, the last six rounds of negotiations between the rebel groups and Khartoum have not led to any substantial breakthrough. Egypt, meanwhile, is actively promoting development programmes in poverty-stricken southern Sudan as a key catalyst to resolving some of Sudan's political issues. In this respect, Taha's visit provided a major boost for Egypt and Sudan's bilateral trade, economic and investment relations. After Taha delivered a message to Mubarak from Sudanese President Omar Bashir, the two men discussed the Sudanese political situation, as well as ways to boost bilateral relations between Egypt and Sudan on all fronts. With Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif, Taha and the Sudanese delegation accompanying him participated in the fourth Higher Joint Egyptian-Sudanese Committee. The two-day meetings led to the signing of 13 cooperation agreements in various domains, including agriculture, communications, health and education. They also established mechanisms to encourage investment and cooperation between Egyptian and Sudanese companies, by setting up joint projects in fields as varied as health, mining, transport, electricity and land reclamation. At a joint press conference with Taha, Nazif told reporters that Egypt and Sudan had both agreed to open markets for their respective products as a way of encouraging private sector trade and investment activities. Taha saw Egypt's hosting of the committee meetings in Cairo -- for the first time -- as a welcome sign of a positive Egyptian role in Sudan's investment and development process. Taha said the meeting focused on strengthening the private sector's role in this process, as well as the infrastructure and communications linking the two countries. He called on Egyptian businessmen and companies to study, along with their Sudanese counterparts, the renewed prospects of investing in Sudan, in light of the recent peace. According to Nazif, Egypt was prepared to offer full support towards Sudan's development within the framework of the peace process. For his part, President Mubarak urged officials to treat the agreements they had reached with the utmost seriousness -- by working within the framework that had been set, and establishing a monitoring mechanism to make sure the agreements are met, and on time. The Sudanese delegation also stressed the importance of applying the "four freedoms" legislation enacted in 2004 that entitles Sudanese and Egyptian nationals to enter each other's countries without visas, in addition to the right to own property and obtain work and residency permits. Mubarak said Egypt would also be going through with its plans to establish a branch of Alexandria University in the southern Sudanese capital of Guba, a destination that Egypt Air had also proposed the idea of establishing a weekly flight to.
