Egypt's Mubarak in south Sudan for unity talks

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak visited southern Sudan, an important source of Nile water, on Monday -- the first such visit by an Egyptian head of state since Gamal Abdul Nasser went there in 1962.

Mubarak had talks in the southern capital Juba with the president of the semi-autonomous region, Salva Kiir, who could become the leader of an independent south if southerners vote for secession from the north in a referendum promised for 2011.

Egypt's official MENA news agency said Mubarak's visit was "aimed at cementing stability and unity in Sudan".

Mubarak stressed the ties of friendship between Egypt and the "African" south, which has testy relations with the Arab-led regime in Khartoum.

Diplomats say Egypt is strongly opposed to southern secession for fear it would complicate multilateral negotiations on distribution of the Nile waters.

Egypt, which has 75 million people and insignificant rainfall, is almost completely dependent on the Nile for its water needs. The White Nile, which flows through southern Sudan, provides about 10 percent of the total flow and could provide more if the water management system is improved.

Mubarak told reporters: "I came to Juba for the first time and it gives you an indication that we are concerned about southern Sudan." He said his government would set up a branch of Egypt's Alexandria University in the southern capital.

Kiir told Mubarak that implementation of the 2005 peace agreement between Khartoum and the south was not going smoothly, one of his aides told reporters. The agreement ended more than
20 years of civil war in Sudan.

He warned Mubarak that regional instability could also destabilize his country and urged Cairo to put pressure on Khartoum to move ahead with a three-year-old peace agreement.

Kiir was quoted as referring to chaos following Kenyan elections, rebellion in Ethiopia, meltdown in Somalia, and the activities of a Ugandan rebel group, the Lord's Resistance Army, in Sudan, Central African Republic and DR Congo.

Kiir cited concern that border areas between north and south have not been demarcated, complicating the results of a key population census conducted in April and likely to complicate national elections scheduled in 2009.

Mubarak earlier met Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir in Khartoum and talked about the conflict in the Darfur region of western Sudan, the Egyptian state news agency MENA said.

"The best way to find a solution to this problem (the conflict in Darfur) is the Arab and African initiative," Mubarak told reporters.

Mubarak supports a position advocated by the African Union that Beshir be allowed time to implement a ceasefire in Darfur, where Khartoum has been accused of brutally repressing a five-year uprising.

Implementation of the 2005 peace agreement between north and south Sudan has crossed the half-way mark, but many of its thorniest parts have yet to be enacted ahead of a scheduled referendum in the south on independence or unity.

Fighting in the contested oil district of Abyei last May was seen as the biggest threat yet to the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement, which ended what was Africa's longest running civil war in which around two million people died.

There are deep-set fears among the international community that a possible arrest warrant against Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir for alleged crimes in Darfur could have serious repercussions on implementing the CPA.

Kiir's office said that Egypt, as one of the international guarantors of the agreement, must put pressure on Khartoum to see that the accord is implemented.

I came to Juba for the first time and it gives you an indication that we are concerned about southern Sudan,

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak