/ 16 November 1999

BESHIR SHOULD MEET MUSEVENI: MBEKI

PRESIDENT Thabo Mbeki on Monday called on Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir to travel to South Africa for talks with his Ugandan counterpart even though he is ill. A spokesman for Mbeki said the president had arranged for Beshir and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni to meet on Tuesday. Museveni has been in the country since Friday for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. Spokesman Parks Mankahlana said they were to discuss strained relations between Sudan and Uganda in the context of the “conflict in the Great Lakes region.” But, Mankahlana said, the talks had been postponed because Beshir had cancelled a tour of South Africa, Kenya and Ethiopia which was due to begin on Monday, citing ill health. Beshir and Museveni have not met since 1995 when Kampala severed diplomatic relations with Khartoum in April of that year on the grounds that Sudan supported a Ugandan armed opposition group, a charge the Sudanese government has denied.