Gulf money comes first in the politics of sport

The eighth Pan Arab Games, Lebanon's largest sporting tournament ever, kicked off Saturday with more than 1,600 athletes from around the Arab world participating in an event that has become mired in controversy on both the Lebanese and regional front. The games will start without the 97-strong Iraqi team, which last night was still marooned at the border with Syria after being denied access to the country by immigration officials.

The athletes, who traveled for 24 hours from Baghdad in three coaches festooned with giant pictures of Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, arrived at Masnaa border on July 11 morning.

Officials have refused to grant their request for entry visas, and it appeared that the government would maintain its stand and the games will proceed without Iraq.

Iraq was also banned from the previous Pan Arab Games held in Syria in 1992.

But relations between Iraq and much of the rest of the Arab world have thawed in the seven years since the invasion of Kuwait.

Lebanon, which is seeking to reestablish political ties with Baghdad severed in 1994 following the assassination of an Iraqi dissident in Beirut, was forced to accede to Kuwaiti and Saudi Arabian demands that Iraq be excluded from the games.

Kuwait and Saudi Arabia are among the leading financial sponsors of the Lebanese reconstruction process. Notably, both were the only two countries to provide funds for the rebuilding of the Sports City despite pledges from Arab ministers to stump up the costs of the construction during a 1993 meeting in Cairo.

This has lent added weight to Kuwait's demand that Iraq be banned from the event.

Furthermore, if Iraq attends the games, the emirate's 277 member delegation has threatened to march in the opening ceremony holding pictures of Kuwaitis reported missing in the Gulf war.

The Lebanese government has been placed in an embarrassing position. Refusing entry to Iraq could set back the burgeoning ties between the two countries.

Meanwhile, the Iraqis are forced to sit it out at Masnaa. Iraqi delegation leader Assil Tabra said on July 11 that the athletes would wait at the Masnaa post until they receive official word from Beirut excluding them from the games or allowing them to complete.

The athletes include football, volleyball, boxing and kick boxing teams.

Tabra told reporters that Iraq had received no notification from Lebanon on whether its team could compete in the games. "We will stay here until we receive a letter from Lebanon saying Iraq is excluded from competing in the games or we are allowed to participate," he said.

"We are just waiting, and we consider what was happened so far as just bad organization."

Arab League secretary-general Esmat Abdul Majid intervened on July 9 and Lebanese officials said they were in diplomatic contact with Kuwait and Saudi Arabia in a bid to arrange for a symbolic Iraqi presence.

However, hopes for such a compromise faded on July 11, with immigration officials at Masnaa maintaining they had no permission to allow any Iraqi in.

Tabra said another 63 Iraqi athletes were due to arrive on July 18 and 19.

He showed reporters an invitation to the games and several confirmations which he said Iraq had received since February from Ahmed Qadri Abdel Majid, assistant secretary-general of the Arab League for social and cultural affairs.

He also showed what he said was an invitation from Lebanese sports and education minister Jean Obeid.

If the regional dilemma was not enough to contend with, the games have also had their own share of homemade controversy over the naming of the rebuilt Sports City complex.

Originally entitled the Camille Chamoun Sports City after the reigning president in 1957 when the stadium was built, Prime Minister Rafik Hariri proposed changing the name to the Beirut Sports City with the additional reference that it was founded by Chamoun and rebuilt under president Elias Hrawi.

This prompted a storm of protest from members of the Christian community, notably Dory Chamoun, leader of the National Liberal Party and the former president's son. Hrawi threatened to boycott the games if the name was amended, as did opposition MPs.

Political bickering aside, the games will be a showcase event for Lebanon and a considerable boost to the government's aim of informing the world that Lebanon is safe to visit and a potential tourist center.

The stadium has a seating capacity of 50,000. Excluding Iraq, teams from 19 countries are participate with a total of 1,645 competitors, including 470 women.

The Lebanese delegation is the largest with 480 competitors, trainers and officials. Djibouti on the Red Sea coast of Africa, has fielded the smallest team with one trainer and three competitors.