Egypt's Mubarak receives Sudanese President al-Bashir

Apr 27, 2010, 15:01 GMT

Sharm al-Sheikh, Egypt - Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak on Tuesday hosted his Sudanese counterpart, Omar al-Bashir, for a brief visit in the Sinai resort town of Sharm al-Sheikh.

The leaders met a day after Sudan's electoral commission announced that al-Bashir had been re-elected president, despite his indictment by the International Criminal Court for presiding over war crimes and crimes against humanity during the government's campaign against rebels in the western Sudanese province of Darfur.

Al-Bashir and Mubarak discussed attempts to end the conflicts in the Middle East and in Darfur, Egyptian diplomats said. Mubarak told al-Bashir that Egypt was anxious to see Sudan's internal conflicts resolved, while maintaining the territorial integrity of the country.

Cairo is concerned that a southern Sudanese vote to secede from the country in a referendum next January could endanger agreements over the use of the Nile's waters.

Egyptian diplomats told the German Press Agency dpa that the pair also discussed economic relations along a wide variety of tracks.

They did not elaborate, but the presence of Egypt's ministers of petroleum and agriculture in the welcoming party for al-Bashir at his arrival in Egypt on Monday suggested those two sectors may have figured in the talks.

Mubarak also congratulated al-Bashir on the electoral victory, while al-Bashir in turn complimented Mubarak on his recovery from gall-bladder surgery in Germany last month, the diplomats said.

The Egyptian president's schedule has been increasingly busy, following a slow period to allow him to rest after the surgery. In recent weeks, he held a series of high-level meetings with top officials and foreign leaders. Earlier this week, he also gave a speech to mark the national holiday of Sinai Liberation Day.