Arab Maghreb federation's foreign ministers will meet today in Tripoli

The Algerian foreign ministry announced yesterday that an urgent meeting for the foreign ministers of the member states in the "Arab Maghreb federation" will be held in Tripoli today.

The ministry added that the Algerian foreign minister Abdul Aziz Balkhadem will head for Tripoli to take part in this meeting. Libya who currently presides over the federation announced on December 8 it gives up the presidency of the Union because of the "stumbled process of the Union and the numerous violations from certain members."

The Union, which includes Algeria, Morocco, Tunis, Libya and Mauritania, is presumed to convene a summit for the heads of states once a year, initially in one of the five states. The last summit for the Union was held in Tunis in 1994 and another which was scheduled in Algeria by the end of 2003 was postponed until indefinite time.