Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa is due to visit Sudan, Saudi Arabia and Tunisia this week to discuss both the Arab-Israeli peace process and efforts to end Sudan's civil war, his ministry said Sunday.
Moussa will travel to Khartoum on Monday for talks with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and his Sudanese counterpart Mustafa Osman Ismail, ministry sources said.
The talks in Khartoum will focus on "activating the Egyptian-Libyan initiative for inter-Sudanese reconciliation, ways to establish stability in Sudan, as well as the situation in the Middle East," the same sources added.
Cairo and Tripoli have sponsored a joint initiative to end the 17-year civil war in Sudan.
Ismail, the Sudanese foreign minister, returned to Khartoum on Friday from a visit to Libya, saying he discussed the joint initiative with Libyan leader Colonel Moamer Kadhafi.
Moussa will travel Tuesday to Riyadh for talks with his counterpart Saud al-Faisal and chair traditional meetings between the two sides, with talks centering on improving bilateral relations and increasing trade.
The two foreign ministers will also discuss the Arab-Israeli peace process, the Egyptian foreign ministry said.
On Wednesday, Moussa will travel to Tunisia to take part Thursday in a meeting of the Cairo follow-up committee. Created after the October 21-22 Arab summit to support the Palestinian uprising, the committee is made up of Egypt, the Palestinian territories, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Morocco and Tunisia.
Foreign ministers from the member countries held a special meeting in Cairo on Thursday where they stood firm on the Palestinian refugees' right of return to their homes in Israel, and on Palestinian rights over Jerusalem holy sites.
Moussa said Thursday the stand backed reservations Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat had given in conditionally accepting US President Bill Clinton's blueprint to resume negotiations for a final settlement with Israel -- CAIRO (AFP)
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