Last update - 00:00 17/10/2006
Egyptian, Libyan leaders discuss situation in PA and Darfur
By The Associated Press
Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Monday discussed the conflicts in Darfur, Sudan, and the situation in the Palestinian Authority, Mubarak said.
"This visit comes as part of ongoing consultations between me and President Gadhafi," Mubarak told reporters at Tripoli airport as he was leaving after a visit to Libya of less than four hours.
The two leaders agreed to support Syria in face of international pressure and emphasized the importance of containing disputes and tension between Hamas and Fatah in the Palestinian territories, said a Libyan official on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issues.
Negotiations between Fatah and Hamas on forming a unity government have failed. The tensions have spilled over into violence. At least 12 people were killed in clashes earlier this month, and the killing of a Hamas leader in the northern Gaza Strip last week sparked several days of gunfights.
Hamas, which swept January legislative elections and formed the government, appears on the U.S. list of terrorist groups. The U.S. has embraced Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, a moderate elected separately last year, as a viable negotiating partner.
Egypt's intelligence chief, Omar Suleiman, who just came back from a visit to Syria Saturday, where he held talks with Hamas' exiled political leader Khaled Meshal, was with Mubarak on Libya's trip.
More than 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million displaced in Darfur since 2003 when rebel groups rose up against the Khartoum government.
The United Nations wants to send peacekeepers to Darfur to replace the understaffed and ill-equipped African Union force currently deployed in the region. But Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir has repeatedly rejected the proposal, saying it would erode the country's sovereignty.