Arab states delay Wednesday's meeting on ministerial level

A meeting of Arab foreign ministers, which was scheduled for Wednesday in Cairo, was postponed to next January 24, said Monday secretary general of the Arab League, Esmat Abdel Meguid.

The Arab league chief said the meeting was postponed at the request of member countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates).

The ministerial meeting was expected to look into Yemen's request to hold an emergency arab summit following the US-British raids against Iraq this December 16-19. The United Arab Emirates is considered one of the primary supporters of this summit, as UAE President Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan has called many times for restoring Arab solidarity to confront current challenges.

Out of the 22 member countries of the Arab League, 17 had confirmed their participation in the foreign ministers meeting. Only Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait and the Comoro islands had not confirmed participation.

Meanwhile, Political advisor to the Egyptian president, Oussama El Baz, ruled out on Sunday the holding of the summit "for the moment" as some countries do not want Iraq to participate. "It is unrealistic to think that some Arab countries would accept to take part in a summit where the Iraqi leadership will be participating at the highest level," he said.