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Cairo, Egypt, November 28, 2009 – Muammar Gaddafi,
the Libyan leader, has accepted an Arab League request to calm tension
between Egypt and Algeria sparked by their football World Cup play-off
matches, Libyan state media has reported.
Egypt and Algeria have accused each other of failing to protect their
citizens and property from attacks by rival football fans.
Amr Moussa, the Arab League secretary general, called Gaddafi on Monday
and asked him to intervene in his role as chairman of the African Union
and drawing on "the high, distinguished position that the leader
enjoys," Libya's JANA news agency reported on Tuesday.
"The Leader of the Revolution, Chairman of the African Union, will work
to repair the situation that relations between the two brotherly
countries Egypt and Algeria were subjected to..." it said.
Libya has borders with both Algeria and Egypt.
Bitter division
The troubles began when the Algerian team bus was attacked with stones
before a group-stage match on November 14, injuring three players.
Egypt won the game 2-0, forcing the play-off in Khartoum, Sudan's
capital. In the days after the first game, mobs in Algeria ransacked the
offices of Egyptian companies.
After the second match in Khartoum, Egyptian newspapers unleashed
stirring headlines about Egyptian fans being attacked by
machete-wielding crowds.
Sudanese police said there were only a handful of injuries.
"Barbaric attacks on Egyptian fans in Khartoum," read one headline in
the Egyptian daily Al-Masry Al-Youm.
"Algerians chase Egyptian fans with knives and machetes," said another.
Cairo withdrew its ambassador to Algiers last week and Algeria has
demanded an explanation from Cairo.
Hosni Mubarak, Egypt's president, said on Saturday that Egypt would not
allow its citizens abroad to be humiliated.
Ibrahim Youssri, a former Egyptian ambassador to Algeria, told Al
Jazeera that the introduction of Gaddafi as a mediator would "give the
leaders a chance to save face".
"But I do not think it will happen in a short time, maybe in a few
weeks.
"But things are calming down. People in the two countries are very sad
about this. The Egyptian and Algerian intellectuals wrote and spoke
against all of these developments which have not reason or logic at
all."
Source: Al Jazeera and agencies, November 26, 2009
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