ALEXANDRIA, Egypt, 18 September 2005 — Egypt agreed to boost its support for southern Sudan following January’s landmark peace deal between the government and southern rebels in talks between President Hosni Mubarak and his Sudanese counterpart Omar Bashir yesterday.
Egypt agreed to open a consulate and a branch of the University of Alexandria in the main southern Sudanese city of Juba and to build a hospital in the region, Mubarak’s spokesman Suleiman Awad said.
During his three-hour visit to Egypt’s second city of Alexandria, Bashir also set out his government’s position on the continuing conflicts in Darfur and eastern Sudan, Awad said. “The situation in Darfur is extremely complicated but not insoluble,” the spokesman said.
A new round of peace talks between the government and the Darfur rebels opened in Abuja Friday without the participation of one faction of the largest ethnic minority rebel group, the Sudan Liberation Movement.
The official Egyptian Middle East News Agency (MENA) said Bashir briefed Mubarak on developments in Sudan, the progress of the peace agreement implementation and the efforts exerted so far to form an interim government of national unity.
The two leaders also discussed cooperation between Egypt and Sudan ahead of an expected November meeting in Cairo of the fourth session of the Higher Egyptian-Sudanese Committee.
Egypt has expressed interest in investing in several projects in Sudan, including power generating plants and construction of hospitals and schools, particularly in the southern provinces. Sudan and Egypt are discussing joint cooperation programs with emphasis on pharmaceuticals, agro-industries, education, mass media and transportation networks.
Meanwhile, Sudan renewed a plea to the United Nations on Friday to punish the United States for destroying a medicine factory with cruise missiles in 1998 as part of a Washington crackdown on terrorism.
“This attack has damaged the development efforts of my country and deprived my people of basic medicines,” Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail told a world summit on UN reform in New York.
“Today, from this rostrum, we reiterate our call to the United Nations to take the necessary and just measures within the framework of international law and appeal to the international community as a whole to support this just and legitimate demand,” he said.
The Clinton administration justified the Aug. 20, 1998, attack on the Al-Shifa Pharmaceutical Industries Company on the grounds the plant was producing nerve gas ingredients. Sudan said the factory made only drugs. Seven people were wounded, one of whom died later of his injuries.
The attack followed the bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, which killed at least 226 people including 12 Americans.
The company at the time called on the US government to compensate Shifa’s 326 employees and their 1,500 dependants for loss of income. Its managers denied the factory had any links with Bin Laden, accused by US officials of masterminding the East African embassy attacks.
