THE Sudanese Vice-president, Mr al-Zubeir Muhammed Saleh, met President Mubarak yesterday on the second day of a surprise visit to Egypt which Sudanese opposition leaders say is a sign of desperation on the part of the Khartoum regime.
The visit comes as a joint Sudanese rebel force, comprising the southern Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) and the mainly northern Sudan Alliance Forces, attacked army garrisons in the east of the country and advanced on the southern town of Damazin, site of a hydro-electric plant which supplies 80 per cent of Khartoum's electricity.
According to the Sudanese government, yesterday's talks were to have touched upon Cairo's willingness to let the Sudanese opposition base itself in Egypt. In a meeting with the Egyptian Prime Minister, Mr Kamal El-Ganzouri, on Wednesday Mr Saleh reportedly asked for assurances that Egypt would not provide military aid to Sudanese opposition forces.
Sudanese opposition leaders in Cairo say the Khartoum government will probably try to play on Egyptian fears that a rebel victory in the south could threaten Egypt's supply of water from the Nile.
Relations between Egypt and Sudan deteriorated sharply following the attempted assassination of President Mubarak in Add is Ababa in 1995 by Islamist militants. Cairo accused the regime of Omar Hassan al-Bashir of supporting terrorism and harbouring three men suspected of involvement in the attack.
The accusations led to the imposition of UN diplomatic sanctions on Sudan last May.
Since then the two countries have traded accusations through their official and semi-official media, and Egypt has imposed visa restrictions on the three million or so Sudanese it claims live in exile here.
Given the level of enmity between the two countries, the visit of Vice-President Saleh is seen by analysts and members of the Sudanese opposition as a sign of the growing weakness of the Bashi government.
Earlier this month President Mubarak and his Foreign Minister, Mr Amr Moussa, upset Khartoum by meeting two key Sudanese opposition leaders, Mr Mohammed Osman Al-Mirghani and former Prime Minister Mr Sadek al-Mahdi. The two have remained in Cairo for the past fortnight.
Members of the Sudanese opposition say that Mr al-Mahdi has worked hard to soothe Egyptian fears over threats to its supply of Nile water, and that it is unlikely that Egypt will respond to any requests by Vice-President Saleh for help in fighting the rebels.