The Egyptian President, Hosni Mubarak, says he hopes for better relations with Sudan and Iran - two countries which Cairo has in the past accused of supporting Islamic militants.

The President's comments come after friendly meetings between Egyptian and Iranian officials at the Islamic conference in Tehran and follow reports suggesting Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir may be about to visit Cairo.

Kate Clark looks at what could be a large-scale strategic change in the region.

Iran and Egypt have not had full diplomatic relations for almost 20 years since Cairo gave the Shah sanctuary after the Islamic Revolution.

Relations have been warming all year, especially since the moderate Mohammad Khatami was elected as President of Iran, but could take on a new impetus in the light of reviving US-Iran ties, with Egypt acting as an important go-between.

Christopher Dickey, Middle East editor for the American magazine Newsweek, says the initiative for dialogue is coming from Tehran.

He says: "Iran certainly is taking an initiative in the region to say it is much less threatening to its neighbours - it's not exporting revolution any more, it's not in the terrorist game any more.

"It wants to look like a perfectly acceptable part of the community of the region. And I think Egypt sees an opportunity there to improve relations."

Relations between Egypt and Sudan may prove more imtractable.

President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan

Cairo has repeatedly accused Khartoum of involvment in the 1995 attempted assassination of President Mubarak and of sponsoring Eygyptian militants.

In turn Khartoum has accused Cairo of directly supporting the opposition in the Sudanese civil war.

Mr Dickey is less hopeful of improved relations here.

He says: "There is obviously a deep, combination of interests between Sudan and Egypt because of the Nile river, but relations with the Sudanese government are not likely to be good for as long as it espouses an Islamic revolution and continues to support some of the groups who have been fighting, particularly in upper Egypt, against the Mubarak government."

For Egypt, one of the main points of contention with both countries has been its belief that both have sponsored the militant Islamic opposition.

If ties do improve with Iran and Sudan, could this weaken Egypt's militant Islamist groups.

Mr Dickey is doubtful: "They don't have a lot of sophisticated materiel and they don't need it in order to carry out the sort of massacre that they carried out at Luxor a few weeks ago or the kinds of attacks they carry out on police.

"They can do that with hunting rifles - the sort of guns that have always existed in upper Egypt.

"So, I don't think even improved relations would have a tremendous impact on these groups and Mubarak has often said that the intellectual leadership is in Europe, expecially in Britain."

The next opportunity to assess how Eygptian-Sudanese relations are progressing could come if President Bashir visits Egypt - a trip that has been widely reported as happening soon, but as yet remains unconfirmed.
 

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