US urges Egypt to do more for Darfur

SHARM EL-SHEIKH: A US Congress delegation met President Hosni Mubarak on Thursday to discuss further Egyptian involvement in efforts to solve the crisis in Sudan s Darfur region. The 25-strong delegation of Democrats and Republicans, headed by House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, met Mubarak in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh. We discussed with President Mubarak the role he can play in this matter, for a peaceful resolution of the crisis, Hoyer told reporters after the meeting. He said the delegation had just returned from a trip to Darfur and talks in Khartoum with government officials. According to the United Nations, at least 200,000 people have been killed in Darfur and more than two million displaced since the conflict erupted in February 2003. Some sources say the death toll is much higher. The regime of Sudanese President Omar Al-Beshir stands accused of genocide by Washington for its repression of the four-year rebellion in Darfur. International pressure has so far failed to obtain Khartoum’s green light for the deployment of United Nations’ peacekeepers to replace an embattled African Union contingent in the war-torn western region. Egypt, which has strong ties and shares access to Nile waters with Sudan, recently spoke out against imposing further sanctions on Khartoum over Darfur.