Mubarak says certain powers trying to agitate conflict in Mideast

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has said that certain powers were trying to agitate a conflict in the Middle East to serve their interests, the official MENA news agency reported Friday.

Mubarak, however, did not name the powers in an interview with the state-owned weekly Al-Akhbar Al-Youm, which will be published on Saturday.

"An immediate ceasefire was a unanimous world demand," the veteran president said, adding that the language of threats and fierce speeches was useless.

Mubarak said that Egypt has maintained contacts with all parties concerned to contain the volatile situation in Lebanon.

"Egypt's clear-cut stance in all contacts was for an immediate ceasefire, to be followed by negotiations with full support from the international community," he said.

It was the latest call by Mubarak for a ceasefire, but the conflict between Lebanon's Shiite group Hezbollah and Israel saw no sign of letting up.

Mubarak said that it was high time for the international community to set up a new mechanism for peace in the Middle East, which would involve all tracks, adding the international community should rethink its vision on peace and means to push forward the peace process on all tracks.

He said that his contacts with Syrian leaders confirmed that they wanted peace and were committed to all international resolutions.

Mubarak said that there were direct contacts between Jordanian King Abdullah II and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on regional issues after Egypt made efforts to solve Jordanian-Syrian differences.

Egypt and Jordan are the only two Arab countries to have signed peace treaties with Israel.

More than 400 Lebanese and more than 50 Israelis have been killed in the conflict, which erupted after Hezbollah guerillas captured two Israeli soldiers and killed eight others during a cross-border attack on July 12.

Source: Xinhua