1.   He tried unsuccessfully to see them in a bid to prepare the ground for the proposed high-level mediation mission.

2.   His first mediation mission last month unraveled in a surge of bloodshed and mutual recriminations.

3.   The foreign minister, Tritan Shehu, said that the timing was not right for the mediation mission.

4.   Egypt, meanwhile, launched a new mediation mission Thursday, sending its foreign minister, Ahmed Maher, to Israel and the Palestinian areas.

5.   Egypt sent its foreign minister, Ahmed Maher, on a new mediation mission.

6.   Her only other diplomatic contact during that time has been with U.N. special envoy Razali Ismail, who met with her on two mediation missions in October and January.

7.   Hoping to defuse the crisis, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Sunday offered to send a mediation mission to Iraq, U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said.

8.   Hoping to defuse the crisis, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Sunday offered to send a mediation mission to Iraq, U.N. spokesman Fred Eckard said.

9.   It also endorsed the mediation mission of special U.N. envoy Mohamed Sahnoun, who left New York late Thursday for the region.

10.   Nations involved the mediation mission -- Mali, Gabon, Chad and Burkina Faso -- had been told in advance of the French action.