CAIRO: Intelligence chief Omar Suleiman is part of the Egyptian delegation accompanying President Hosni Mubarak on his current US trip.
Initially, official reports had not included Suleiman as part of the delegation. The official news agency MENA reported that Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit and Finance Minister Youssef Boutros-Ghali were accompanying Mubarak.
However, the delegation is bigger than initially announced, and includes Suleiman as well as Gamal Mubarak, the two names being mooted for succeeding Mubarak as president.
Suleiman is the point man for negotiations with Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Mubarak is scheduled to meet with both Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair and National Security Advisor James L. Jones, who is also a special envoy for Middle East security.
Mubarak is scheduled to meet Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday.
He will also meet with American Jewish groups Monday, including the powerful lobby group the American Israeli Public Action Committee.
Other Jewish groups however sent Mubarak a letter expressing their “deep concern over his hosting of Sudanese President Omar Al-Beshir last March despite their being a warrant for his arrest issued by the International Criminal Court.
The court is accusing Al-Beshir of genocide in Darfur.
The letter was handed to the Egyptian embassy Sunday by the David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies and signed by a hundred rabbis and Jewish leaders from the US, Canada and Israel.
“We wish to express our deep concern that Sudanese President Omar Hassan Al-Beshir recently visited Egypt, despite the fact that the International Criminal Court has issued a warrant for his arrest in connection with the genocide in Darfur. As Jewish leaders living in the aftermath of the Holocaust, we are keenly aware of the need for swift action against the perpetrators of genocide, said the letter.
“Beshir should be brought to justice, not treated as if he is a respected international leader, it added. -With agencies
