http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtmlCAIRO (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney arrived in Egypt on Monday at the start of a brief Middle East tour including Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. In meetings with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, they will discuss "the president's (President George W. Bush's) freedom agenda and the war on terror," said a statement from Cheney's office.
At the airport in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Tuesday, he will see Lebanese politician Saad al-Hariri, son of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, added a spokeswoman.
The United States strongly supports the United Nations inquiry into the Hariri assassination in February last year. The investigators have pointed the finger at Syrian intelligence but the Syrian government denies it played any role.
Egypt and Saudi Arabia were to be part of a trip Cheney took in December when he visited Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Oman. But he cut short that tour to fly back to Washington to cast a tiebreaking vote in the U.S. Senate. Cheney added Kuwait to his itinerary so that he can offer condolences after the death of the emir, Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah, a spokeswoman said. Sheikh Jaber died on Sunday at 78.