/ 31 October 2001

MUBARAK CONTINUES SUPPORT FOR US

EGYPTIAN President Hosni Mubarak offered support to the United States in its war on terrorism, but reiterated his opposition to a prolonged conflict that goes beyond Afghanistan, in an interview with Newsweek magazine. “I support the United States in fighting terrorism,” Mubarak said in the interview to appear in the weekly’s Monday edition. “We suffered from terrorism and understand it well.” Mubarak offered further praise to the US effort to capture exiled Saudi-born millionaire Osama bin Laden, whom the US government blames for the September 11 attacks that left more than 5_000 dead. But Mubarak, one of the most crucial Arab allies for the United States, warned the US war on terror must not eclipse its responsibility in bringing peace to the Middle East and finding a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Mubarak said the United States shared information with Egypt, its second-largest recipient of foreign aid, on almost a daily basis, and evaded a question about whether he had been consulted on a secret US plan for Mideast peace.