Ten Arab leaders absent from Arab summit
Regional, Politics, 3/28/2006

Arab leaders participants in the 18th Arab summit arrived in Khartoum, Sudan, amid expectations of the absence of ten Arab leaders from attending this summit which will start deliberations today, Tuesday.

The summit will be held amid atmosphere of concern after the failure of the Arab foreign ministers to settle differences on hot issues.

A Jordanian government official said that King Abdullah II will not take part in the Khartoum summit which starts deliberations today. The source which asked to be anonymous said that the Jordanian delegation will be led by the prime minister Marouf al-Bekheit, noting no reasons of this change in the program.

President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt confirmed his absence and the secretary general of the ruling national party Safwat al-Sharif announced that the Egyptian Prime minister will lead the Egyptian delegation, giving no reason for that.

While there is a heated debate in the Sudanese capital over who will be absent from attending the summit, the Libyan leader Muammar al-Qathafi surprised all and arrived in Khartoum without a prior notification.

Sources in the Arab League said that Saudi Arabia's king Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz will not take part in the summit but this was not confirmed by an official source, besides so far the level of representation for Bahrain to the summit is still unknown.

Meantime, it was announced in Khartoum that each of the ruler of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, the ruler of Qatar Sheikh Hamad Bin Khaleifa al-Thani and the Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh will take part in the Arab summit.

In Muscat, the deputy premier for the Cabinet affairs Fahd Bin Mahmoud al-Saeed will represent Oman in the summit.

Sheikh Muhammad Bin Rashed al-Maktoum, vice president and prime minister will head to Khartoum on top of the United Arab Emirate delegation.

Actually the Lebanese President Emil Lahoud arrived in Khartoum to take part in the summit after several hours before it was announced that the prime minister Fouad Sinioura is the one who will lead the Lebanese delegation.

Lebanese sources attributed the controversy for Lahoud's participation to the message addressed by the majority parliamentarians opposition block to the Arab states leaders in which they asked them not to recognize the legitimacy of the representation of the Lebanese President.

Previous Stories:
  Arab FM to pay same aid level to Palestinians   (3/27/2006)
  Saddam calls Arab summit to support Iraqi resistance   (3/27/2006)
  Arab foreign ministers resume meeting in Khartoum   (3/27/2006)

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