Four leaders will not attend Arab summit
Regional, Politics, 3/25/2006

News reports said that the leaders of each of Saudi Arabia, Oman, Tunis and Libya will be absent from the Arab summit to be held in Khartoum, Sudan, next Tuesday and Wednesday.

The news quoted a senior source in the Arab League that the Saudi King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz, the Libyan leader Muammar al-Qathafi, Sultan Qabous of Oman, and the Tunisian President Zine al-Abidin Ben Ali will not take part in the deliberations of the Arab Summit.

Last Thursday, the secretary general of the Arab League (AL) Amr Moussa told journalists that "talking about Arab leaders boycott of the summit is just predictions," stressing that the "attendance will be strong."

In a telephone call with al-Jazeera satellite tv, the director of the office of the AL secretary general did not confirm that the four Arab leaders will be absent, nor confirmed that other Arab leaders will be attending, and confined to saying that the Arab presence in the summit will be strong.

On the other hand, the advisor for the Sudanese President Mustafa Othman Ismael said that the Lebanese president Emil Lahoud and the prime minister Foaud Sinioura will take part in the Arab summit.

The Sudanese official expressed hope that the summit will achieve a breakthrough in the two files of the inter-Lebanese dialogue and the Syrian- Lebanese relations.

In the same source, a senior source at the AL said that Lahoud and Sinioura will take part side by side in the non-official consultations which will be held by the Arab leaders during the summit on the inter- Lebanese national file and the Syrian- Lebanese relations.

Three main issues are expected on the top of the list of the official and consultations talks of the Arab leaders: means of withstanding the ghost of the civil war in Iraq, the risks of possible international isolation for the Palestinian authority after Hamas forms the government, and the possibility of ensuring Arab financial support in case international aid is cut, in addition to the file of the Syrian- Lebanese relations and means of providing the inter- Lebanese dialogue a success.

Meantime, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit said about pre-summit preparatory meeting that started today with the participation of Egypt, Jordan, UAE, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Iraq and Kuwait as well as Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa that the Darfur developments and the situation in Somalia and Comoros will top the agenda of the talks. He said President's Mubarak's proposal on holding consultative summits between the Arab leaders will be discussed and expressed confidence to be supported by the Arab leaders. On Darfure, he said any international force to replace the AU forces must be first be approved by the Sudan government. On Egypt's efforts to reconcile between Hamas and the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), Abul-Gheit said that the PLO was the sole representative of the Palestinian people and urged Hamas to join the PLO to help solve the current standoff.

Previous Stories:
  Arab League supports Hamas government   (3/24/2006)
  al-Akhbar: Moussa stresses importance of the Arab Peace Initiative   (3/24/2006)
  Old UN rights commission told to close   (3/23/2006)

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