RIYADH: Saudi Arabia will not take part in Afghanistan's peace efforts unless insurgent Taliban give up links with militants networks, SPA quoted Prince Saud Al-Faisal, Minister of Foreign Affairs, as saying Saturday. “There has been much talk about a Saudi intermediation (but) we outlined conditions after the Taliban gave refuge to terrorists,” Prince Saud Al-Faisal said, according to SPA. “We got a request then from the Afghan President (Hamid Karzai) to mediate and we said there will be no intermediation unless the Taliban have good intentions and stop giving refuge to terrorists but unfortunately communications stopped,” he said. He was speaking at a joint press conference with his Italian counterpart Franco Frattini here in Riyadh. The foreign minister said that Sudan's coming referendum on the south's independence could reignite violence in the country rather than bring peace. He said the original reason for the January referendum was to bring peace between the north and south in the wake of a two-decade-old civil war. “The solution needed is to stop the fighting between the north and the south,” he told reporters. “If the referendum leads to a renewal of fighting, that is what we fear,” he said. He stressed the referendum, scheduled for Jan. 9, must be fair and free, but reiterated Riyadh's worry that the largest Arab country by territory will be split in half. He said the Sudan referendum marks “a critical juncture in its history, threatening its territorial division.” Prince Saud Al-Faisal also condemned this week's bombings in Iraq and the attack on a Christian church there, calling the latter “against all principles and human morals.” In a statement, he expressed “strong condemnation of the attacks launched recently in Iraq, resulting in the death of many innocent souls and injuries to many more, together with the desecration of a house of worship which is not accepted by our religion and is against all principles, human morals and international norms.” ‘Israel must extend moratorium' Frattini urged Israel to reinstate a moratorium on settlement building in the West Bank until a final peace deal is reached with the Palestinians. Europe has to make a greater effort to convince the Jewish state “that it is in the best interest of Israel to reach a peace deal,” he said. That means Israel needs to extend the moratorium on settlement building in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem that expired at the end of September, halting three-week-old peace talks, Frattini said. “An ‘extension' meaning until a final agreement ... is reached,” he said. Prince Saud Al-Faisal said the Arab League, which on Oct. 8 gave Washington one month to get the talks restarted, would take the Palestinian case to the UN Security Council if nothing happens. “The intent is to go to the United Nations” to seek peace for the Palestinians, he said.
