Condoleezza Rice played bad cop during Mubarak visit to U.S.
SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Monday, April 9, 2001
CAIRO — Egypt has declared the visit of President Hosni Mubarak to
the United States a success amid reports of tense talks with the Bush
administration.
Mubarak adviser Osama El Baz termed Mubarak's visit to the United States
a success and said the two countries agreed on a range of bilateral and Middle
East issues. This included Bush's agreement to open up the U.S. market to
Egyptian imports.
But U.S. and Israeli sources said Mubarak was confronted by Egypt's
policy of missile cooperation with North Korea as well as its support for
the Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat. These issues were
discussed during the meetings with U.S. National Security Adviser
Condoleezza Rice, according to Middle East Newsline.
Ms. Rice was said to have engaged in a tense exchange with Egyptian
Foreign Minister Amr Mussa. The U.S. official said Egypt must pressure
Arafat to end the mini-war against Israel.
The two officials were said to have argued over whether Egypt was
encouraging Arafat to continue attacks rather than return to the
negotiations with Israel.
Egyptian sources said the Bush administration stayed away from sensitive
topics, such as calls in Congress to reduce U.S. military aid to Cairo. They
said the aid issue was not raised with Mubarak, who himself did not ask for
any increase in military aid from Washington, as had been expected.
In Washington, most of the Senate and about half of the House of
Representatives has signed a letter that calls on the Bush administration
not to invite Arafat to the White House. They accused Arafat of sponsoring
terrorist attacks against Israel.
Mubarak ended four days of talks in Washington on late Wednesday.
Monday, April 9, 2001
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