ROME, 12 October 2004 — Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, in his first public comments since bombs killed at least 32 people at Red Sea resorts, said yesterday the world needed a UN-sponsored conference to deal with international terrorism.
The Oct. 7 bombings and the fight against terrorism were the main topics with Italian leaders at the start of the Egyptian leader’s European trip.
Mubarak, speaking to reporters after meeting Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, said such a conference could help the international community find what he called an “integrated approach” to deal with extremism.
“I repeat my call ... for an international conference on international terrorism, under the auspices of the United Nations,” he said.
Mubarak thanked Italy for its support following “the terror attacks in Taba and their evil consequences.” Two Italian sisters, Jessica and Sabrina Rinaudo, 19 and 22 years old, were among those killed in the main bombing at Taba’s Hilton hotel.
Mubarak envisioned a conference that would study the causes of terrorism and help make a distinction between “the efforts of people seeking their legitimate rights and attempts by a few deviant elements to impose their violent views on the world.”
The Egyptian leader, who meets Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi today, said it could help the international community find “an integrated approach that can make tolerance and dialogue prevail as alternatives to extremism and perpetrators of violence.”
Egyptian authorities have so far revealed few clues as to who carried out the attacks which hit Egyptian Red Sea resorts in the Sinai Peninsula frequented by Israelis. Cairo has said it was too early to say whether Egyptians or foreigners were involved.
Police have rounded up some 15 Sinai Bedouin on suspicion they helped smuggle the explosives used in the bombings, security sources said on Sunday.
Israel has said it suspects Osama Bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda network, but Egyptian presidential spokesman Maged Abdel Fattah warned on Saturday against rushing to conclusions. Egyptian officials have tended to link the attacks to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Ciampi, speaking to reporters with Mubarak, said the Mediterranean would not see lasting peace until the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was resolved.
He said he and Mubarak agreed there was a “perverse connection between terrorism and the Israel-Palestinian conflict”. Mubarak said the defeat of international terrorism also hinged on self-governance for Iraq.
Meanwhile, Egypt will have its work cut out to define the hotly-debated agenda of a conference on Iraq next month. Mubarak’s official spokesman said Sunday the much-anticipated gathering on reconstruction and the electoral process in Iraq would open on Nov. 25. But diplomats said the date was not set in stone and that the event could be brought forward by a few days.
Officials have said the event is likely to be held in Sharm El-Sheikh — a resort on the Sinai Peninsula south of the site of last week’s attacks — although this has not been confirmed.
The idea of an international conference on Iraq had been in the air for months but it was formally proposed last month by US Secretary of State Colin Powell.
According to diplomatic sources, Mubarak resisted pressure to convene a conference this month, arguing that it would have clashed with the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, and more significantly, that it would have been jeopardized by the campaign for the Nov. 2 US presidential election.
