Middle East News
By Pakinam Amer
Mar 28, 2007, 16:19 GMT
Riyadh - The region faces challenges 'unprecedented in the contemporary history of both the Middle East and Arab World,' Arab League Chief Amr Moussa told Wednesday's opening of the Arab League summit in Riyadh Wednesday.
The Arab world was facing 'a dangerous situation,' he warned. Arab leaders had to beware of passivity and moves without real achievements that could take their efforts 'back to square one.'
Adopting a similar line during a round of opening speeches, Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdel-Aziz blamed Arab leaders' disputes and their failure to take a united stand for the crisis in the Middle East. He urged Arabs to overcome their confessional conflicts.
'What have we achieved during all those past years in order to solve (our disputes)? I don't lay the blame on the Arab League, because the Arab League all but accurately reflects our state,' the Saudi king said.
'Our continuous disputes, our refusal to pursue unity - all this has made the (Arab) nation lose trust in our credibility, and lose hope,' he said. 'Dissent is not our fate, and backwardness is not our final destiny.' But he stressed that he remained full of hope 'despite reasons for desperation.'
Remarks by many addressing the summit showed distress over the deteriorating situation in different parts of the war-ravaged region.
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, who spoke as a guest, spoke of the 'complex challenges' the Middle East was facing.
'The Middle East is more complex, more fragile and more dangerous than it has been in a long time,' he said.
Summit speeches were dominated by sectarian strife in Iraq verging on civil war, and the political standoff in Lebanon and the situation in Darfur.
Observers said the common denominator at the summit was the leaders' plea for Arab states to 'unite' and prioritize regional interests.
The summit - hosted for the first time by Saudi Arabia - is reviving a 2002 Saudi peace proposal that promises Arab recognition of Israel in return for a full pullout from the occupied territories.
The meeting features delegations from many Arab states - although there are notable absences including Libya, which earlier officially announced a boycott.
The agenda was also dominated by the situation in the Palestinian territories and formation there of a national unity government, cautiously received by the Western community and rejected by Israel.
The opening session also heard mention of Iran's nuclear programme and sanctions which the United Nations has agreed to impose.
Although leaders rejected any military nuclear programme, they insisted that 'dialogue and negotiations' remained the absolute means of solving any nuclear case.
'Talks and negotiations are the way to resolve these issues, just as other issues in other parts (of the world) have been resolved, without coercive procedures that are not necessarily in the interest of what is required to (maintain) regional security,' Mussa said.
Bilateral talks involving the various Arab leaders were meanwhile expected. Already, a closed-door meeting between Saudi King Abdullah and Syrian President Bashar Assad was reported to have taken place.
Saudi authorities are hoping to mediate a reconciliation between Lebanon's pro-Syrian Hezbollah-led opposition and the cabinet of Prime Minister Fouad Seniora.
Independent observers said Saudi Arabia, a major US ally, was working towards achieving the position of power-broker in the conflict-torn region.
The Saudis were hoping to facilitate peace deals along the same lines as the Mecca deal, which late last year brought infighting between Fatah and Hamas to a halt and endorsed a truce that lead to the formation of a national unity government embracing both groups.
Saudi authorities have imposed heavy security for the two-day meeting, with government employees given a two-day leave from work and airport roads sealed off. Usually bustling Riyadh was more like a ghost city with many shops closed for the duration.
State television and the print media lavishly praised Saudi authorities as they host the event for the first time, featuring favourable opinions from analysts and the 'man in the street', while hoardings proclaim 'Welcome to the Land of Humanity and Peace'.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur
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