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Iranian leader in Senegal to discuss nuclear programme
AFP
DAKAR
Petroleumworld.com 09 14 06
Iran's hardline leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived in Senegal Wednesday for talks with his counterpart Abdoulaye Wade expected to focus on his country's nuclear programme and on bilateral ties with the West African country.
Ahmadinejad was received at the capital's international airport by Wade.
A Senegalese presidential source told AFP that the controversial nuclear question would feature on the two leaders' agenda.
Faced with a barrage of Western threats over Iran's nuclear programme, Ahmadinejad is expectedly seeking backing from a fellow Muslim country as he will from his other Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) allies at an upcoming summit in Cuba.
The trip comes amid continuing efforts to resolve a protracted international standoff over Iran's nuclear program, which Tehran insists is for peaceful purposes but the United States believes is aimed at building nuclear weapons.
Wade has already urged the West to change its approach to Iran's nuclear program by starting talks without any conditions.
"My own role as a Muslim yet unabashedly pro-Western intermediary between the European Union and Iran makes me think there is a better way: drop the preconditions to opening negotiations," he wrote in a letter to the Financial Times in late August, cited by IRNA agency.
Negotiations "would allay Western suspicions that Iran is trying to buy time. I urge the West to let negotiations begin. What have you got to lose?" he asked.
The two heads of state are also to discuss bilateral energy cooperation following Wade's visit to Teheran in June, according to an Iranian diplomatic source in Dakar.
Among the projects being considered by the two is the construction of a 380 million euro oil refining plant in Senegal.
Ahmadinejad, who was in West Africa during the African Union summit in Gambia in July, is due to leave Dakar late Wednesday for Havana where the NAM summit starts on Friday.
After that he will proceed to Venezuela for talks with one of Tehran's fiery anti-US allies, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez who has backed Iran on its nuclear programme and refusal to recognise Israel.
His 10-day global tour ends at the United Nations in New York for this year's General Assembly.
AFP 13 1602 GMT 09 06
Copyright ©2006 AFP. All Rights Reserved.
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