Amr Moussa looks set to continue as head of the Arab League while member states, ahead of the annual summit, seem uninspired by the idea of regional unity, Dina Ezzat reports In Khartoum on 28 March Arab leaders gathering for the annual Arab League Summit are expected to nominate Secretary-General Amr Moussa for a second five-year term in office. Judging by statements and behind-the-scene meetings of this week's biennial Arab foreign ministers meeting, Moussa's second term is unlikely to be less stressful and challenging than the first that started May 2001 following an abrupt end to 10 years as Egypt's chief diplomat. In meetings that convened for one day -- half the expected two-day duration -- at the headquarters of the Arab League on Saturday, Arab ministers seemed disinterested in engaging with one another. There were exchanged niceties before the press, a seldom handshake here and there, but that was about it. The dinner hosted by Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit on the eve of the official gathering was short, cordial and marked with little in the way of substantive discussion. Arab foreign ministers -- several of whom were absent, including the foreign minister of Sudan, whose country is readying itself to chair the Arab summit at the end of the month -- arrived to the luxury of their hotel rooms and hardly mingled. They met briefly before dinner, went to the Arab League and gave a few brief speeches. They did not have any side meetings. They engaged in no arguments over anything as such. Developments in Iraq -- described in the opening speeches of Arab League Secretary-General Moussa and UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Mohamed Al-Shaali, as a "tragedy" -- were hardly talked about in any detail. The ministerial gathering almost automatically stamped a resolution drafted by the Iraqi delegation. Syria asked for no support from its Arab partners. Needless to say, Syria's new foreign minister, Walid Al-Moalem, was not seen in meetings with his Lebanese counterpart, Fawzi Saloukh. Even Palestinian Foreign Minister Nasser Al-Qidwa, expected to be replaced shortly by a Hamas member (some suggest Mahmoud Al-Zahar is a keen candidate), indicated little interest in communicating with counterparts. Syrian, Lebanese and Palestinian -- and for that matter Sudanese -- delegations presented foreign ministers with draft resolutions on matters of concern to them. The resolutions were almost automatically adopted. Altogether the occasion was lacklustre. Resolutions adopted promised no will of action. In addition to being short on operative language they were almost all void of clear positions on any matter, including core issues. While expressing support for the right of the elected Palestinian government of Hamas to govern unhindered, if with realism, the resolutions of the Arab foreign ministers also supported the Quartet that has been critical of Hamas. And while stressing the need for Iraqi national unity, they failed to offer direct and clear measures to be pursued for this unity to be attained. Even when Secretary- General Moussa announced his intention to shortly send an envoy to Iraq, he declined to specify a date. For his part, the head of the Iraqi delegation was unwilling to meet this declaration with enthusiasm, or to offer his endorsement to Moussa's preferred candidate, astute Moroccan diplomat Moukhtar Lamani. Statements of Arab foreign ministers before, during and after the meeting were scarce, rhetorical and contained little substance. While the Lebanese foreign minister stressed his country's commitment to its Arab nation, Syria's counterpart stressed his country's faith in Arab support, as did the Palestinian and Sudanese ministers. When it came to the crucial issue of the election of a new secretary-general -- or rather, as speculation has had it for a long time, the re-election of Moussa -- statements were very abrupt. "The leaders will decide in Khartoum," commented Yemeni Foreign Minister Abu Bakr Al-Qerabi. "President Mubarak will make an announcement in the near future," said Abul-Gheit. According to Arab diplomats the issue is settled: Moussa was persuaded to continue in his top position and his critics in Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, who have been uncomfortable with his opposition to the war in Iraq, were convinced that it is in everybody's interest to turn a new page. With most Arab governments now preoccupied with internal affairs rather than the overall regional situation, Moussa is sure to face challenges ahead, including the potentiality of civil war in Iraq, possible economic disintegration in Palestine, unending civil strife in Sudan and Somalia and many bilateral Arab conflicts concomitant to the explosive Syria-Lebanon situation. Aides close to the secretary-general say that his number one target is to pursue civil accord in Iraq. A near equal priority is to provide economic assistance to the Palestinian Authority that has been faced, since the victory of Hamas in January, with overt and covert economic threats from world donors -- especially the US -- as well as political and military threats from Israel. Moussa, his assistants say, is also keen to encourage closer relations on the inter-Arab front as well as greater coordination of Arab foreign relations -- especially with regard to the key issues of Iran, Turkey, Latin America and Europe. The success of the secretary-general in accomplishing these objectives depends a great deal on the 22 member states of the pan-Arab organisation. They were not particularly forthcoming, however, with regard to Moussa's plans for his first term -- which were more or less similar of those he is sketching now for the next five years. In his opening speech before the Arab foreign ministers, Moussa argued that Arab countries have a double mission: to face the direct attacks to which they are subject and introduce internal reforms. Only time will tell whether Moussa will be successful in rallying the Arab world these challenges or not.
