Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak held talks on Thursday with EU’s troika mission, Britain's Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and Saudi Foreign Minister Saudi Al Faisal, as part of extensive diplomatic efforts at home and abroad to discuss the world's response to the suicide attacks in the United States, according to local press reports and agencies.
The Troika team was led by Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel flew into Syria on Thursday on the fifth leg of a tour of Muslim countries to drum up support for an anti-terrorism coalition.
The troika arrived from Cairo for talks with President Bashar al-Assad and Foreign Minister Farouq Al Shara.
The troika has also visited Pakistan, Iran and Saudi Arabia with the aim of urging Muslim states to join an international coalition against terrorism following the September 11 attacks in the United States.
Besides Michel, the troika is made up of EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and EU External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten.
In Cairo, the EU official hailed Egypt’s stand against the terrorist attacks. After the meeting with Mubarak, Michel described the talks as “fruitful and constructive,” according to the Cairo-based Al Ahram newspaper.
The minister said that his team carried three messages to Mubarak, said the paper: the first is appreciation of Egypt’s stance, the second clarifies the EU position on terroririst and the third expresses the union’s wish to cooperate with Egypt on finding the best ways to deal with the phenomenon.
According to AFP, however, the troika's visit to Cairo was overshadowed by reported "racist" comments by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi that provoked the Arab League to demand an apology.
Michel agreed that Berlusconi's remarks were "not acceptable," adding that they were "totally contradictory" to European beliefs and values. "It is a very, very big mistake to think in such a way," he said.
Briefing Italian journalists in Berlin on Wednesday, Berlusconi said the West "should be confident of the superiority of our civilization" and he urged Europe to "reconstitute itself on the basis of its Christian roots."
"Our civilization is superior to Islam," was the clear message from the Italian leader, according to journalists who attended the briefing.
Straw's meeting with Mubarak rounded off his four-day trip to the Middle East, which also included talks in Iran, to garner support for a US-led coalition against "terrorism", said the Egyptian Gazette.
Mubarak told Straw he was concerned about Egyptian "terrorists" who had taken refuge in Britain.
"I truly understand these concerns...that there have been convicted terrorists from Egypt who have gone to live in the UK, as they have done in other Western countries," Straw told reporters, but added that there were no outstanding extradition requests from Egypt.
Egypt fought and won a battle against terrorism from 1992 to 1997.
Straw explained that as a former minister of interior in the UK he contributed to designing anti terror legislations, but added that tougher legislations couldn't be passed because of political constraints. "Britain has already prevented many fundamental militants from pursuing their activity in the UK," he said.
The President also met Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al Faisal on the same day. Saudi Arabia has given strong public support to the campaign against "terrorism,” but diplomats said the key US regional ally privately urged caution about any military response, said the Gazzette.
The string of meetings follow Mubarak's European tour last week, during which he discussed a possible U.S. military reprisal and confronting "terrorism" with officials in France, Germany and Italy.
Arab countries have condemned the September 11 suicide attacks on Washington and New York but some have expressed reservations about a U.S. military retaliation.
Egypt has also urged Washington to refrain from hasty military action, but has said it was necessary to punish the culprits.
Later in the day, Mubarak also met a high-level European Union delegation as part of the effort to coordinate international anti-terrorism moves. The delegation described the talks with Mubarak as positive.
"We both agreed on the need to combat terrorism in all its forms and effectively, through legal means but also through concrete actions," Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel said.
"We agreed that never again will the world be the same as before the September 11 attacks," delegation head Michel said.
An EU source, speaking to reporters, quoted Mubarak as telling the EU team: "If we don't react now, the problem will become totally uncontrollable in a few years."
Meanwhile, the United States and Egypt, its key Arab ally, are engaged in high-level talks to forge a common front against terrorism, with analysts reporting progress toward clearing up "misunderstandings," according to AFP.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell and Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher both sounded conciliatory following talks in Washington on Wednesday, with further meetings involving other officials expected this week.
Their outcome is important as they share more than ever a common fear of Islamic militants and hope to preserve their long, but sometimes tense, partnership in forging Middle East peace, diplomats and other analysts were quoted by the agency as saying – Albawaba.com
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