News denied on postponing the Arab summit; Heated discussions for the Arab ministerial meeting in Tunisia over reforms
Regional, Politics, 3/27/2004

Arab officials announced that preliminary meetings of the Arab summit which Tunisia will host on Monday and Tuesday are witnessing frequent heated debates, especially in regard to the reforms in the Arab world, proposed by Egypt and many Arab states including Syria showed reservations on it.

The Arab ministers started their close door meeting yesterday following consultation talks on Thursday evening. Works of the summit's agenda top reforms in the Arab states and the American initiative known as the " greater Middle East Initiative." The summit, which will be held amid tough security measures, will deal with the situation in the aftermath Saddam Iraq, reform programs of the Arab League, and the Palestinian condition following the assassination of the founder of the Hamas movement Sheikh Ahmad Yassin.

One Arab official asked to be anonymous said that the majority want the summit to approve the Egyptian project concerning the reforms in the Middle East, but countries like Syria and Lebanon consider it as not necessary to propose a reform project at the present time and that priority should be given to the Arab- Israeli conflict.

The secretary general of the Arab League, Amr Moussa, said in the inauguration of the meeting of the Arab foreign ministers that Tunisia's summit is held in critical historical moments and that there are two files debated to the Arab summit, one is related to reforming the Arab world and the second to restructuring the Arab League.

A high ranking Arab official asked to be anonymous said that the Arab ministers agreed in conclusion of yesterday's morning session to form three committees, with the first one pertains to reforms in the Arab world, another carries the name of " the document of honor among the Arab leaders" over reforming the Arab League, and a Third for formulating the ultimate final statement.

The official explained that these committees will assume submitting results of its works to the ministers and then to the Arab summit.

The emergence of differences since the beginning of the consultation meetings led to the dissemination of rumors over the possibility of convening the summit. These rumors were reinforced by the announcement that the Saudi crown prince will not be attending and the Saudi delegation to be headed by the foreign minister prince Saud al-Faisal.

It was also announced in Bahrain that its king Sheikh Issa al-Khaleifa will not take part in the summit and will be represented by the prime minister.

The Algerian prime minister denied statements attributed to the Algerian President Abdul Aziz Buraflika relating to the request of certain Arab leaders to postpone the date for convening the Arab summit. The Algerian FM Abdul Aziz Balkhadem said replying to a question in the context of the meetings of the Arab foreign ministers in Tunisia that Butaflika's statements were not understood appropriately, while the secretary general of the Arab League Amr Moussa denied any possibility to postpone the summit.

Previous Stories:
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