Arab League weighs rescheduling summit
Host Tunisia unexpectedly canceled meeting
From Caroline Faraj
CNN
TUNIS, Tunisia (CNN) -- Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa is expected to tour Arab capitals in the days ahead to discuss plans for a summit in the wake of the cancellation of a meeting that was to begin Monday in Tunisia.
"The secretary-general will conduct consultations with the Arab leaders on the place, date and content of the summit that should be headed by Tunis," a senior official in the Arab League told CNN.
The official said "it is very doubtful" that the two-day annual summit would begin April 16, as was suggested by Yemen, but added, "it is expected to be held within three to seven weeks."
Morocco announced that Arab foreign ministers planned to meet in Cairo, Egypt, in "the next few weeks" to study the possibility of holding a new summit.
Meanwhile, Tunisia has not renounced its presidency of the Arab League and remains prepared to play host to a summit of its 22 heads of state, President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali said Monday.
Ben Ali made the statement during a meeting with Foreign Minister Habib Ben Yahia, the official Tunisian news agency TAP reported. It was Ben Ali's first comment since the abrupt weekend announcement that the summit was being canceled because of differences over political changes.
Expressing "astonishment and regret" Sunday over Tunisia's move, Egypt offered to play host to the summit in Cairo, the Arab League headquarters. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said Arab leaders could meet within three weeks.
"I was astounded. I did not believe it was possible for a summit to be canceled without anyone being consulted," state media quoted him as saying in a telephone interview with a private television satellite channel.
Mubarak said he is trying "to save the situation" by offering to hold a meeting. He added, however, that he has no objection to a summit taking place in Tunis. "The place does not matter to me, I will go wherever it is; the summit must take place."
Other Arab states also expressed surprise at Tunisia's decision.
The search for a new site comes as Washington is pushing for democratic reforms as part of its war on terrorism, while angry Arab people are demanding that their authoritarian governments do more to defend the Palestinians, especially after Israel killed Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, and to end the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq.
Some delegates said Tunisia was unhappy that some Arab leaders did not plan to attend and wanted to prove its democratic credentials to Washington.
"I believe the message that Tunis would like to send to the West is the following: We are the guys of reform in the Arab world," one Arab diplomat told CNN.
The diplomat added, "No doubt that Tunis paid a price for its hesitation to host the summit a couple of months back, and now it is even paying [a] higher price with its relations with the Arabs for its attitude last Saturday, but it is benefiting big time with its relations and image in the West."
As part of consultations on holding the league summit before the G8 meeting in early June, Mubarak met Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal and the Arab League secretary-general in Cairo on Monday to discuss rescheduling the summit.
On Tuesday, Mubarak is scheduled to meet with Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah and the King of Bahrain, Shaikh Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, in Sharm el-Sheikh on the matter.
Talking to the media after his meeting with Mubarak, Saud said: "We have to leave what happened and look to the future to take resolutions that will ... strengthen the Arab position so we can face our main issues, whether the Palestinian or Iraqi issue."
Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa visited Riyadh on Monday to talk with Saudi officials about the abrupt cancellation of the summit.
In Rabat, Morocco's official MAP news agency said King Mohamed VI had spoken by telephone with Mubarak and with Tunisia's president Monday and insisted on the need to hold the summit as soon as possible.
Mubarak had earlier discussed holding a new summit with other Arab leaders, including Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah and Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
