German Defense Minister Visits MideastGerman Defense Minister Rudolf Scharping started a five-day visit to the Middle East Sunday with his first stop in Cairo.Scharping will also travel to Israel and Palestine in a trip which, according to German media, will focus on the region's peace process. A number of other senior German officials have traveled the conflict-fraught region for mediation purposes earlier this year. German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder visited the region in late October and early November. According to a report in Die Welt newspaper, German Intelligence Service chief August Hanning paid a secret visit recently to the region to negotiate a swap of detainees between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas. |
| People's Daily Online --- http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/ |