Summit delay sparks backlash at collective Arab action

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, March 29, 2004

Summit delay sparks backlash at collective Arab action

A surprise delay of an Arab summit, announced by its host Tunisia, has sparked backlash at a collective Arab action, some Arab diplomats and experts said on Sunday.

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A surprise delay of an Arab summit, announced by its host Tunisia, has sparked backlash at a collective Arab action, some Arab diplomats and experts said on Sunday.

The move, tantamount to dropping a bombshell to the 22-member Arab League (AL), was taken by Tunisia Saturday night due to what it termed divergence over proposals on the reform of the Arab world.

Although AL chief Amr Moussa blamed the failure on the performance of the current Arab system, the diplomats and experts looked beyond and pointed to the consequences of the postponement.

"The postponement disappointed the Arab public, since most of the Arabs pin great hope on the summit to take strong decisions concerning dangers and threats facing the Arab world," an Egyptian diplomat told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Sayed Eliwa, professor at Helwan University in Cairo, lashed outat the current state, saying the Arab people "will probably pay a dear price for it."

"There is a deep misunderstanding among Arab countries. Each state concentrates on its own interests while disregarding the whole," he told Xinhua by telephone.

"Though Arab countries have common religion, culture and language, it is regrettable that we have no common vision for the future like the European Union," he said.

The indefinite postponement of the summit originally due on March 29-30, the first to be held after the US-led war on Iraq, wasalso the first such in the league's 59-year history.

Some Arab foreign ministers, who have been here over the past two days to prepare for the summit, have reportedly rejected a Tunisian proposal on pursuing democratic reforms in the Arab world,dealing the last straw of the sudden decision.

Proposing that human rights be protected and women's status enhanced, Tunisia has called for tolerance, exclusion of extremism and inter-civilization dialogue.

According to Egypt's official MENA news agency, Tunisian ForeignMinister Al-Habib bin Yahia walked out of the night session to takea phone call, and then returned and announced that President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali had decided to postpone the summit.

When Moussa and several ministers asked bin Yahia to arrange an urgent meeting with the president, the minister only said, "The president got a flu and could not receive you."

The decision stunned all, as the ministers were making progress toward reaching an agreement on questions that divided them, notably reform in Arab states and policy on the Israeli-Palestinianconflict, MENA said.

The summit preparations had been in trouble for days, given the reluctance of some AL members for attendance and low-key representation of Gulf states.

During the two-day ministerial meeting, delegates reached unanimity on Iraq, being poised to reiterate a call for a quick withdrawal of occupation troops and transfer of power to Iraqis, and for the United Nations to play a pivotal role in post-war Iraq,according to a draft statement.

On the Palestinian cause, Arab countries had been expected to condemn Israel's aggression and its construction of a separation wall and to offer 330 million US dollars in aid to the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), which is to be paid in a monthly installment of 55 million dollars as of April.

Moreover, some Arab countries, led by Syria, strongly oppose offering any more peace proposal to Israel, which assassinated Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, a 67-year-old quadriplegic man bound with his wheelchair, in a missile attack on Monday.

They also dubbed talk about peace with Israel as "time-wasting,"while some countries, on the other hand, stressed the need to mergean Arab initiative which offers normal relations and security to Israel in return for its withdrawal to the pre-1967 border into a US-sponsored peace plan, or the roadmap.

Syria and Libya also traded bad words against each other concerning weapons of mass destruction, sources close to the meeting said.

As for reform of the Arab world, the ministers failed to reach consensus on proposals, submitted by Egypt, Jordan, Yemen, Qatar and Tunisia, which had been incorporated into a single draft document.

To ward off any unhealthy fallout, some Arab countries have engaged in an intense diplomacy to reschedule the summit.

On Sunday, Egypt, where the league is headquartered, offered to host the summit.

"Egypt welcomes the convening of the summit in the country of the headquarters of the Arab League at the earliest possible time that can be agreed on," said a statement, issued by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's office, on Sunday.

Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal, who has been in Tunisia for the ministerial meeting, is due in Cairo for talks with Mubarakover the postponement.

"Faisal will meet with his Egyptian counterpart Ahmed Maher on an Egyptian offer to hold the summit at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo," MENA said.

Echoing Helwan University's Eliwa, Taha Khalil, researcher of the Egyptian National Center for Middle East Studies, told Xinhua, "The Arab League will carry on, though it is a weak forum."

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