By Agence France Presse (AFP)
The Daily Star (Lebanon) – Wednesday, July 07, 2010
CAIRO: Egypt, whose head of mission in Baghdad was killed in 2005, is to open two consulates in Iraq, Foreign Minister Ahmad Abou al-Gheit announced on Tuesday.
He told reporters that President Hosni Mubarak has approved the opening of an Egyptian consulate in the northern city of Arbil and another in the port city of Basra, southern Iraq.
Egypt’s leader met earlier on Tuesday with Massud Barzani, president of the Kurdish regional government for northern Iraq that is based in Arbil, and Iraqi Vice President Adel Abdel Mehdi.
An Egyptian ambassador has been posted in Iraq since November 2009 as head of mission, after a four-year break since the murder of charge d’affaires Ihab al-Sharif in an attack claimed by Al-Qaeda.
Meanwhile, late Monday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Mubarak discussed ways to relaunch the stalled peace process between Israel and the Palestinians.
“We looked at initiatives it will be possible to take,” Mubarak told reporters after a 45-minute meeting with the French leader that also touched on ties between their countries.
The Israelis and Palestinians began US-mediated indirect talks on May 9 but they were thrown into disarray by Israel’s announcement of plans for settlement construction in occupied Arab East Jerusalem.
Asked about the possibility of the UN Security Council being called on to relaunch the Israeli-Palestinian dialogue, the Egyptian president said the idea was “premature.”
“There are indirect negotiations under way at the moment,” he said. “If these negotiations fail, we could perhaps, in this case, think of approaching the Security Council.”
Indirect talks between Israel and the Palestinians are regarded as a first step toward renewing direct negotiations which collapsed in December 2008 when Israel launched a devastating 22-day war on Gaza.
Cairo is one of only two Arab nations to have signed a peace deal with Tel Aviv and is a key mediator between Israel and the Palestinians.
Sarkozy has said the United States and Europe could take steps in the coming months to relaunch the dialogue.
Paris has said this could happen at a summit of the Union for the Mediterranean due in November in Barcelona. – AFP
http://dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=116787#axzz0szfiPbDQ
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