Ethiopian Review

CAIRO — US envoy Scott Gration praised Libya’s role in resolving the conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan at a meeting with Egyptian, Libyan and Sudanese officials in Cairo Sunday.

“I’m very impressed and very grateful to the role that the Libyans are playing not only in rebel unification but in bringing peace between Chad and Sudan,” he said.

“I see the Libyans have a very positive role… and we are very proud to be partners with the Libyans,” he added.

Gration also praised Egypt’s role, after what he said were four-party talks involving Egypt, Libya, Sudan and the United States, hosted by Egypt’s Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit and intelligence chief General Omar Suleiman.

“Egypt has played such an important role in Sudan and we continue to look for the leadership and perspectives and input from our friends here in Egypt,” he said.

Gration did not specify who had represented Libya and Sudan.

But the US State Department had said earlier that he was scheduled to hold talks with Libyan Foreign Minister Mousa Koussa and an adviser to the Sudanese president, Ghazi Salahuddin.

As well as the Darfur crisis, the talks had also covered broader regional issues, such as relations between the Sudanese government and Sudan’s southern provinces, he added.

Gration made his comments following a meeting with the Secretary General of the Arab League, Amr Moussa, on the last stage of a tour of the region that has taken in Sudan and Ethiopia.

According to UN estimates, 300,000 people have died in the Darfur conflict in western Sudan since 2003, although the Sudanese government puts the figure at 10,000.

UN officials say 2.7 million people have been forced to flee the conflict, many of them moving over the border into Chad.

Gration’s praise came in stark contrast to the mood in Washington, where senior US lawmakers have denounced Tripoli’s jubilant response to the return of Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi.

- AFP