Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak will travel Wednesday to Saudi Arabia to study the US initiative for Arab-Israeli peace as well as the war in Afghanistan, a source close to Mubarak told AFP.
During his visit of several hours to Riyadh, Mubarak will hold talks with King Fahd bin Abdel Aziz and Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdel Aziz, the source said.
The Arab leaders will study the "American initiative for a settlement of the Middle East problem,” which US Secretary of State Colin Powell announced in a speech on Monday, the source said.
"Egypt welcomes the idea of the US government, expressed by Powell, to achieve a fair and comprehensive peace," a senior official close to Mubarak was quoted as saying by the government daily Al Ahram.
"Egypt stresses the importance of transforming this positive tendency into practical and realistic steps, to carry out according to a defined timetable guaranteeing the restoration of security and stability in the Middle East as quickly as possible," the unnamed official said.
Powell called Monday on the Palestinian leadership to make a "100 percent" effort to stop the fighting, while urging Israel to stop settling and occupying Palestinian territories. He also announced he would send high-level envoys to the region.
Mubarak's talks in Riyadh will also focus on the situation in Afghanistan and the latest developments in the region, the source close to Mubarak said.
Egypt has shown a noticeable interest in the Afghan issue since the retreat of the Taliban from the major cities, leaving them to the opposition North Alliance.
Reports say that hundreds of suspected Egyptian Islamists are fighting on the side of the Taliban in Kunduz and Kandahar, the last strongholds of the radical militia.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Maher was in Pakistan on Monday for talks with his counterpart Abdusattar, carrying a message from Mubarak to President Pervez Musharraf.
Maher demanded that any Egyptian Taliban or those linked to Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda network should be extradited to Cairo upon their capture – Albawaba.com
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