Baghdad summit falls flat

A no-show of key Arab leaders at Baghdad meeting is widely seen as a snub, stymieing Iraq's attempts to restore its regional standing

Top Arab leaders stayed away from a summit conference convened in Baghdad Thursday that Iraq's Shia Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki had hoped would be a milestone in his government's effort to restore Iraq's stature as a regional leader.
The summit, the first to be convened after the Arab uprisings, was meant to discuss regional challenges, including the upheaval in Syria, stalemate in Palestinian-Israeli peace talks, terrorism and Middle East nuclear proliferation.
Al-Maliki basked in an unprecedented show of adulation as he received the heads of state at Baghdad airport and later headed the Iraqi delegation to the summit.
Echoing the government's confidence, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said in an opening speech that the summit in Baghdad is “crystal clear evidence that Iraq has restored its strength and stability."
Arab leaders were scheduled to attend a conference in Baghdad last year, but it was cancelled after threats of a boycott by the Sunni-dominated Arab governments in a rebuff to Baghdad's Shia-led government, which they accuse of marginalising Iraq's Sunnis and siding with Shia Iran.
Al-Maliki wanted the summit in Baghdad to showcase his government's efforts to restore stability in the violence-torn nation and mark Iraq's triumphant return to the Arab fold following nine years of American occupation and the isolation of the Saddam Hussein era.
Al-Maliki's enthusiasm for the summit, the first to be convened in the Iraqi capital for 22 years, comes amid one of Iraq's worst political crises since the 2003 US-led invasion of the country which threatens to reignite Shia-Sunni violence and renew the Arab-Kurdish conflict.
Two violent explosions rocked the Green Zone, where the summit was convened shortly after the beginning of the summit.
To guard against possible attacks by Sunni insurgents who had threatened to disrupt the summit, the government launched a massive security operation that included deployment of around 100,000 extra security personnel to man hundreds of checkpoints and roadblocks to protect the capital from insurgent attacks.
Helicopters were also sent to patrol Baghdad's skies during the summit, while entire streets in the capital were closed down and neighbourhoods were cordoned off.
More than 30 bombs hit Baghdad and other cities last week in an apparent effort by Sunni insurgents to prove Al-Maliki's government cannot keep the country safe for the summit. Al-Qaeda-linked group, Islamic State of Iraq, claimed responsibility for the series of bombings that claimed at least 56 lives.
Many Iraqis have questioned the $1 billion spent on the meeting, arguing that it is badly needed to provide basic infrastructure for the country's cities, which suffer severe shortages of water, electricity, medical services, housing and school buildings.
In the lead up to the summit, Al-Maliki tried to resolve outstanding problem with some of the Arab governments in an attempt to cosy up to their leaders. During a trip to Kuwait earlier this month Al-Maliki agreed to pay the emirate $500m to end a dispute over Kuwaiti aircraft allegedly stolen by Iraq during the 1990 invasion.
He also agreed to maintain borders as mandated by the UN Security Council.
To appease another Arab heavyweight, Egypt, Iraq signed a long-delayed deal to hand over $408m to Egyptian workers who were owed back-pay when they fled Iraq in 1990 as its tanks rolled into Kuwait.
Iraq also signed a security deal and a prisoner exchange with Saudi Arabia, Iraq's main regional rival, which will allow Riyadh to receive dozens of Saudis who were charged with terrorism in Iraq.
Al-Maliki's endeavour to hold the one-day summit at such a huge financial and political cost drew fire from Sunni and Kurdish leaders who accused him of using the summit to boost his influence while keeping them marginalised.
Yet, in an unprecedented move, more than half the leaders of the 22-Arab League states shunned the summit, sending lower ranking officials instead.
Saudi Arabia and Qatar sent their Arab League ambassadors. In an interview with Al-Jazeera television, Qatar's Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheik Hamad bin Jassim Al-Thani acknowledged that the low-level representation at the summit was a "message" to Baghdad for what he called the marginalisation of minority Sunnis by Iraq's Shia-led government.
Egypt's delegation is headed by Foreign Minister Mohamed Amr. Jordan, which relies heavily on trade and cheap oil from Iraq, sent its prime minister after King Abdullah decided not to attend the summit. Algeria dispatched the speaker of its parliament.
Kuwait is the only Gulf country represented by its head of state.
Even Yemen's President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi decided not to come, sending his foreign minister in his place. The move was perhaps calculated to curry favour with its oil rich neighbour Saudi Arabia which is a major aid donor.
Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on charges of war crimes and genocide in Darfur, was the first Arab leader who said he was attending Thursday's meeting.
The absence of key Arab leaders is a major blow to Al-Maliki's prestige at a moment when he had hoped the summit would boost Iraq's role in the region.
Arab summits are usually derided as ineffective talking shops and are often plagued by absences, sometimes because of conflicting interests and often because of personal disputes among leaders.
But this year, the hidden disputes are sharper and the snubs more pointed, and in that regard, the show of disdain by Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies to Al-Maliki's government could not be clearer.
Yet, the awkward question remains: what have both sides achieved from the summit?
One easy answer is that by staying away, the Sunni-dominated Arab world managed to show Baghdad's Shia government that the diplomatic cost of its closeness to Iran and Shias in the region and marginalising Sunnis in Iraq is high.
As for Baghdad, it is clear that it now feels that the fact the summit has finally convened will help it to gain new power and box above its weight regionally.
With the absences of the leaders of heavyweight Arab countries, Baghdad will ensure the summit will not pressure it to change its stances toward Iraqi Sunnis or abandon its close ties with allies such as Iran, Syria and Shias in the region.
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