Clinton to attend summit

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

Washington, OCT. 15. The U.S. President, Mr. Bill Clinton, will attend the emergency West Asia summit in Egypt that is primarily aimed at ending the violence that has claimed at least 100 lives so far.

Welcoming the summit, Mr. Clinton said, ``Now, we should be under no illusions. The good news is the parties have agreed to meet and the situation appears to be calmer.''

Before leaving for Denver, Mr. Clinton also said that the path ahead was difficult and that after the ``terrible'' events of the last few days, the situation was still quite tense. ``But President Mubarak and I are convinced that we must make every effort to break the cycle of violence.''

The Secretary of State, Mrs. Madeleine Albright, and the West Asia negotiator, Mr. Dennis Ross, will accompany him.

No one in the administration is looking beyond the stopping of the present cycle of violence; and the clear impression is that the summit has its hands full on this issue itself. One of the top items on the agenda is in the agreement of a ``fact finding mechanism''. It is being pointed out that the environment between the two sides is poisoned and vicious and quite similar to the days of the 1967 war.

From Mr. Clinton's point of view, it is with a note of disappointment that he is witnessing the serious efforts for peace thus far starting to unravel.

At one time, there was the hope that a lasting West Asia accord between the Israelis and the Palestinians could be initialled before Mr. Clinton leaves office on January 20, 2001. Now this is no longer a subject that is talked about in any great interest.

The President, after his speaking and fund-raising engagements in the West Coast, returns to Washington on Sunday. He will leave for Egypt later in the day.

After the summit, he is expected to return home by Wednesday in time for the memorial service for those who died in the attack on the warship the USS Cole.

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Section  : International
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