Egypt's FM says Darfur issue be solved through dialogue

Egypt's Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit said on Saturday that it was important to solve Sudan's Darfur crisis through dialogue and all sides should refrain from exerting any sort of pressure, the official news agency MENA reported.

Abul Gheit made the remarks after a meeting with visiting special U.S. envoy for Sudan Andrew Natsios, who arrived in the Egyptian capital on Friday after a week-long visit to Sudan.

During the meeting, Abul Gheit and Natsios dealt with the outcome of the latter's visit to Khartoum and his talks with Sudanese government officials on the Darfur crisis, the report said.

Abul Gheit said Egypt has contacted members of the UN Security Council, the UN and other international parties on the necessity of offering alternatives and formulas that could help to resolve the issue of transferring the African Union (AU) peacekeeping mission in Darfur to a larger UN peacekeeping force.

Meanwhile, the Egyptian top diplomat presented Natsios proposals which Egypt believed could settle the Darfur crisis.

Such proposals, he explained, would constitute a compromise between Sudan's rejecting the deployment of international forces in Darfur and western powers' stance insisting on dispatching such forces to the restive region.

According to Abul Gheit, Egypt held that the international community should focus on supporting the AU mission to Darfur and work to convince rebel groups, which did not sign the Darfur Peace Agreement, to join the peace process in Sudan.

Natsios, for his part, said the U.S. welcomed efforts by Egypt and the Cairo-based Arab League (AL) to settle the Darfur crisis.

Speaking to reporters after meeting with AL Secretary General Amr Moussa, Natsios said he discussed with Moussa a proposal offered by Egypt and the AL on the implementation of UN Security Council resolution 1706 on Darfur.

Natsios declined to discuss the proposal in detail, saying the U.S. would mull this proposal which he described as "very constructive."

A strong peacekeeping force is a must in Darfur to stabilize the situation, Natsios underlined.

The UN Security Council adopted resolution 1706 on Aug. 31 calling for the deployment of more than 20,000 international peacekeepers to replace the 7,800 AU forces in Darfur.

But the Sudanese government has rejected the mission transfer, saying it was a violation of Sudan's sovereignty and an effort by the West to re-colonize the African oil producing country.

Egypt and the AL has been firmly supporting Sudan's stance on the deployment of UN forces, insisting any deployment should first get approval from the Sudanese government.

Source: Xinhua