Powell begins Middle East tour in Egypt

CAIRO, Egypt -- Touching on two sensitive Mideast issues, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell repeated Wednesday calls for reform in the Palestinian leadership and urged pressure on Sudan to stop violence blamed on ethnic cleansing.\nPowell, in the first stop on a regional tour, also condemned the car bombing in Iraq that killed dozens of Iraqis. He said that he still believed Iraq's elections could be held as scheduled in January.\n"We are holding to that date," Powell said at a news conference after a series of meetings with Egyptian leaders. "We continue to solicit assistance from other nations to provide additional forces that might be able to provide security for the U.N. workers who are coming in for the election."\nPowell arrived in Egypt Tuesday on a Mideast tour aimed at trying to revive the Palestinian-Israeli peace process and talking with some of America's closest Arab allies about Iraq's future, the war on terror, violence in Sudan and the U.S. initiative to encourage greater democracy in this troubled region.\nOn Sudan, where Arab-led militias have attacked blacks in the Darfur region, Powell said he agreed with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak that "we have to give the Sudanese government more time" to stop the fighting and facilitate humanitarian deliveries to the people in the besieged region.\nPowell described the situation as catastrophic in an interview with Egyptian Television and noted that a proposed U.N. Security Council resolution being circulated by the United States would give Sudan a month to make progress.\nReferring to the resolution, Powell said, "At the end of 30 days, one more month, the Security Council has to consider possible measures. It might even include sanctions," he said in an interview with the Al Akhbar newspaper.\nAfter Powell and Mubarak met Wednesday morning, presidential spokesman Maged Abdel Fattah issued a statement to reporters saying the two had agreed Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia should work together.\nQureia withdrew a resignation he had offered 10 days ago in frustration at Arafat's refusal to let him restructure the security forces and deal with growing unrest in the Palestinian areas.\nArafat's almost absolute control over the Palestinian Authority has been a source of frustration for the United States and other countries demanding reform in the Palestinian leadership. The Israelis have frozen out Arafat, saying he is not a fit negotiating partner. The Americans have tried to present Qureia as an alternative.\nEgypt has agreed to work with the Palestinians and the Israelis to ensure order after Israel's proposed pullout from Gaza.\nAt the news conference, Powell said the United States hoped Qureia would be able to act "to provide political control and security control over Gaza."\nEgyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit, appearing with Powell, said the Gaza plan should be linked to the U.S.-backed peace plan calling for a Palestinian state by next year.\nOn the issue of Sudan, Egypt and other Arab nations have resisted as counterproductive a U.S.-backed draft U.N. Security Council resolution that could threaten sanctions against Sudan.\n"Nobody wishes to make the situation any worse with the imposition of sanctions, but at the same time pressure must keep on the Sudanese government to make sure that access is allowed and that security is improved," Powell said.\nAid groups, U.N. officials and Western governments say ethnic cleansing in Sudan's Darfur region has killed 30,000 people, most of them black villagers, and threatens 2 million.\n"These people are in desperate need," Powell said. "We should give the Sudanese government time to respond, but these people don't have much time."\nThe Bush administration holds the Sudanese government principally responsible for the violence against Sudanese of African descent by Arab Sudanese believed to be backed by the government.\nThe Egyptian presidential spokesman reiterated that Egypt believes Sudan should be allowed to resolve the situation without outside interference and said his government would push Sudan to act "in order to prevent the adoption of this (Security Council) resolution."\nOn Iraq, the Egyptians told Powell they did not want to send in Egyptian troops. Most Arab governments have rebuffed requests from Iraq for peacekeepers. Many Arab citizens see the insurgents who oppose the interim Iraqi government and U.S.-led forces in Iraq as freedom fighters standing up to the United States.\nPowell expressed appreciation for an Egyptian offer to train Iraqi security forces.\nBesides talks with Egyptian officials, Powell met in Cairo with Egyptian political and civil society leaders to discuss U.S. plans to promote democratic reform in the Middle East.\nAfter the closed meeting, several participants told The Associated Press they had stressed to Powell that they believed reform could not be imposed from the outside and that a resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict would make room for change.