[nasional_list] [ppiindia] Arab summit ends on note of apathy

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**http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/B6DF53F9-0BA4-41C3-942A-F6958576D66D.htm

Arab summit ends on note of apathy


Wednesday 29 March 2006, 18:52 Makka Time, 15:52 GMT 

   

           
            10 members did not send heads of state to Khartoum
           
     
     





The 18th Arab summit has ended with the usual pledges of solidarity with 
Palestinians and Iraqis and a surprise announcement from Saudi Arabia that it 
will not host the 2007 gathering.



Addressing the final session of the two-day Arab League summit in Khartoum on 
Wednesday, Ghazi al-Gusaibi, the Saudi labour minister, said the next meeting 
should instead be held in Egypt although he gave no reason for his country's 
refusal to act as host.



The Saudi move is being seen by some as indicative of a growing impatience with 
the Arab League's lack of executive power.


 

The annual meetings of the 22-member league regularly focus on challenging 
regional issues, but are often criticised for concluding with resolutions that 
are long on rhetoric and short on concrete action.

 

This year key states Saudi Arabia and Egypt were among 10 countries not to send 
heads of state to the meeting.



Announcing the Saudi decision, al-Gusaibi cited an Arab League resolution 
stipulating that Egypt, home to the league's headquarters, should host the 2007 
summit if the chair country did not want to.



  
Amr Moussa, the Arab League secretary-general whose term was extended for five 
years at the summit, sought to play down the Saudi decision, saying Saudi 
Arabia and Egypt had jointly agreed to have the next summit in Cairo. 



He said he saw no problem "as long as everyone was satisfied" with the decision.



Solidarity



Concluding the summit with their usual pledges of solidarity with Palestinians 
and Iraqis, Arab leaders also renewed their commitment to a 2002 Arab peace 
initiative, which offered Israel a comprehensive peace in return for a 
withdrawal from Arab lands. 



Israel has rejected that initiative.

     
      Zebari asked Arab states to give
      more support to Baghdad
     

In the closing summit statement, members also called on donor countries to 
respect the electoral choice of the Palestinians, who gave the Islamist Hamas 
group a sweeping victory in January, and fulfil commitments to give them aid.

Earlier, during the summit's closing session, the Iraqi foreign minister 
harangued fellow Arab governments  

     
, demanding firm commitments to his country, wracked by anti-government 
violence and a growing sectarian rift.


"It is our right to tell our brothers, after decades of the authoritarian rule 
and wars, that we expect them to support our political march and extend any 
help and backing that will contribute to isolating terrorism and drying up of 
the sources that finance its activities," Hoshyar Zebari said.



Arab leaders, he said, should upgrade their diplomatic representation to the 
ambassadorial level and forgive Iraq's debts. 

 

The summit resolution said Arab leaders agreed to send diplomats to Baghdad, 
though it did not give a timeframe. Arab nations have been hesitant to send 
high-level diplomats to Baghdad since the kidnapping and murder of Algerian and 
Egyptian diplomats there last year.

 

Sudan backed

 

Meanwhile, in a coup for the Sudanese president, Omar al-Bashir, the leaders 
pledged financial backing for the African Union peacekeeping mission in Sudan's 
Darfur region and rejected the imposition of a UN-led force without Khartoum's 
permission.



     
      The summit failed to pledge
      concrete action on any issue
     

Al-Bashir has resisted Western pressure to let the UN take over from the 7000 
AU troops there, saying that would violate Sudan's sovereignty.

 

The leaders also addressed the caricatures of Islam's Prophet Muhammad that 
were published in European newspapers, causing widespread outrage among Muslims 
and some violent protests.

 

The declaration urged the need for "co-operation, dialogue and mutual respect 
between peoples and cultures ... and remind that respecting religious 
sanctities and beliefs is the decisive factor in building confidence and 
bridges of friendship between nations".


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



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