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Gold/Mining/Energy : ARAKIS: HIGH RISK OIL PLAY (AKSEF) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jim Lamb who wrote (7366)	11/30/1997 3:44:00 PM
From: Douglas V. Fant	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9164

Jim, Wait and see. There is a frenzy of diplomatic activity currently. It is undisputed that Arakis hired mercenaries to fight the SPLA and that Khan is an Islamist. But Khan has now been put aside by Arakis, and the longer and more broadly diplomatic activity spreads involving the Sudan, IMO (just my opinion- no inside information) the more likely it becomes that Arakis stays in place as part of a total settlement- particularly as there are greater issues involved here than who operates the Unity Field- i.e., separation of church and state, personal freedom of beliefs and association,etc., that need to be worked out between the parties.... So IMO, the continued diplomatic activity everwhere is positive for Arakis' position... Watch Albright's visit to East Africa next wek very closely... Sudan rebel leader meets Egypt's Mubarak 07:17 a.m. Nov 30, 1997 Eastern CAIRO, Nov 30 (Reuters) - The leader of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) met Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Sunday for talks on the long-running civil war in Sudan, Egypt's southern neighbour. John Garang told reporters his movement was committed to peace in Sudan but could not accept a theocratic state as envisioned by Khartoum's Islamist leaders. ''We're committed to bring about peace in the Sudan. We pursue all avenues that there are to bring this peace,'' Garang said. ''The government in Sudan has a fixed mind. They insist on division of the Sudan which is based on extremism, in terms of a theocratic agenda and that is a major block. ''We say that the Sudan, in order to stay united, and to that unity we're committed, it is necessary that there would be fundamental change so that we have a Sudan that includes all its peoples, in their ethnicities and their religions,'' he added. Garang's SPLA says it represents the mainly Christian and animist south in the civil war against the Arab, Moslem north. The war's modern phase started in 1983. He said Mubarak had invited him to Cairo to brief officials after peace talks that ended in Kenya this month with no agreement between the Khartoum government and the rebels. The rebels want a confederation of northern and southern states. The government insists on a federation. ''These talks collapsed over the issue of the constitutional separation of religion and state. We hold that religion should belong to the individual and the state should belong to all of us. On this there was no agreement,'' Garang said. Garang arrived in Egypt last week on his first visit since Sudan's Islamist rulers took over in a bloodless coup in 1989. Egypt's ties with Sudan have been strained since the coup. The Egyptian government has accused Sudan of harbouring Moslem militants bent on overthrowing Mubarak and installing a strict Islamic state. Sudan denies the charge and is angry with Egypt for allowing in Sudanese opposition figures. But there have been recent signs of a thaw in relations between the two countries, which share Nile waters. Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir sent Mubarak a condolence message after this month's massacre by Moslem militants of tourists in Luxor. Mubarak did not include Sudan among countries he named as harbouring armed Islamists behind attacks in Egypt. About 1.3 million people have died in Sudan's war through violence and famine since 1983. In another development, former Sudanese prime minister and opposition Umma Party leader Sadeq al-Mahdi went to Libya on Sunday at the start of a tour that will also take in Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco, a party official said. ''The tour aims at creating a united Arab stand on the crisis facing the Sudanese people and establishing democracy in Sudan,'' said Salah Galal, head of the Umma Party office in Cairo.