EGYPT: Arab foreign ministers meet ahead of Arab League annual summit

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari and Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul held a meeting on Sunday (March 4) on the fringes of the Arab Foreign Ministers meeting in Cairo. The meeting was to prepare for the annual summit of Arab League heads of state that is scheduled to take place at the end of March in Saudi Arabia. The approaching summit is set to discuss a host of regional crises, from the war in Iraq to the crisis in Darfur and the tense situations in Lebanon and the Palestinian territories. Efforts to forge unified Arab positions on these crises got off to a shaky start, however, with the meeting beginning in some discord. Libyan Foreign Minister Mohammed Abdel-Rahman Shalgam told reporters that his country would not attend the Arab summit, citing Libyan displeasure over the organisation of the meeting. "The decision for the summit had already been taken. It had been decided that the summit would be held in the country the hold the rotating presidency (of the Arab League). Who decided to move it to Riyadh? Who changed this? There is a failure within the Arab system. We have to review the Arab strategy and not waste our time with banal administrative issues," Shalgam told reporters. The Arab summit in Khartoum last year said the annual meeting this year would take place in Egypt, where the Arab League has its headquarters. But Saudi Arabia, which will hold the chairmanship, later offered to host the event in Riyadh and the Arab League accepted the invitation. Libya and Saudi Arabia have had poor relations for some years, especially after allegations that a group of Libyans plotted to assassinate King Abdullah in 2003 when he was crown prince. Libya said it had nothing to do with any such plot. There was a famous exchange of insults between the two countries at the March 2003 Arab League Summit. The Arab states are trying to forge a unified position in particular on the recent formation of a Palestinian unity government, which brought together the feuding Hamas and Fatah factions. The agreement was signed in the Saudi city of Mecca. So far several Arab states have staked out different positions on how far they should push reluctant western governments to recognize the new Palestinian government. Last week Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa urged Arab states to come up with a strong position in order to exert as much influence as possible in any future peace negotiations. At Sunday's meeting Moussa said criticism of the Mecca agreement was unjustified. "The Mecca agreement represents a qualitative shift in the nature of pan-Arab cooperation. The achievement of a Palestinian consensus is an essential prerequisite to the necessary negotiations on the path to a comprehensive peace process that will put an end to tensions in the area. That is why we do not understand the criticisms levelled at this agreement (Mecca), especially from the Israelis," he said. Western governments have so far failed to reach a consensus on recognising the Palestinian unity government and have not yet decided whether conditions set by the so-called "Quartet" of Middle East negotiators should be imposed on it as a prerequisite. Israel has not yet recognised the Mecca Agreement.

ITN Source | March 4, 2007

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