Jobless Iraqis clashed with police and Sudanese coup plotters were brought to book but the postponed Arab summit overshadowed all else. Gamal Nkrumah reviews the reaction in the Arab press Shame, shock and utter disbelief. These were the most common words used in the Arab press this week to describe the surprise announcement on Sunday that the Arab summit had been postponed. In the immediate aftermath of the announcement, papers pointed fingers at several African countries and leaders. Initially, the pundits were startled, literally taken unawares. By Tuesday and Wednesday, a profound anger had set in. Also on Tuesday, there was an obvious difference between the way the Maghreb countries of North Africa tackled the issue and those of the Mashreq and the Arabian Gulf. The continental divide was widest and most visible in the editorials and opinion pieces. The columns of the London-based pan-Arab papers in particular reflected the motley of diverging views, leaving the Arab reader aghast and with a disturbing sense of frustration, bafflement and haplessness. But on one issue many pundits agreed: the democratic reforms that the United States had been touting had undermined Arab unity. Yes, Arab leaders were accused of being sheep, mice and ostriches but the real culprit the experts concurred was Pax Americana. "Tunisia must not be held entirely responsible for this disaster," a dispirited Arab League Secretary- General Amr Moussa told the London-based pan- Arab daily Asharq Al-Awsat. "The Arab League failed us all, but we must hold on to hope." The Arab press soon became embroiled in the controversy of who is to host the next summit. "After the surprise postponement, the battle over hosting the summit begins in earnest between Egypt and Tunisia," ominously screeched Asharq Al-Awsat 's front page headline on Monday. The tone in the inside pages was less conspiratorial and sensationalist. "We should go to the summit with a consensus, clear ideas and smiling, and not amid clashes, insults and threats of withdrawing from meetings," Tunisia's Interior Minister Hedi M'Henni told Asharq Al-Awsat. Tunis was "not looking for an escalation," M'Henni assured readers. "Tunisia demanded a postponement and not a cancellation of the summit," he stressed. Still, there was no escaping the collective sense of shame and indignation. "Somebody must be blamed for what happened in Tunisia. [Tunisian President Zein Al-Abidine] Bin Ali rose to power through intelligence, and rules by the sheer force of intelligence operations," wrote Jihad Al-Khazen in his column Ayyoun wa Adhan (Eyes & Ears) in the London-based pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat. Al-Khazen cleverly evoked the memory of the celebrated Arab traveller Ibn Khaldoun in a bitter yet thought- provoking piece. After recounting the various failings and shortcomings of the medieval Arabs as observed by Ibn Khaldoun, Al-Khazen moved deftly back to the anomalies of the contemporary Arab political scene. "From Ibn Khaldoun to Zein Al- Abidine Bin Ali: I do not say that the Tunisian president alone is to blame. He cannot bear full responsibility for a decision that I feel was made in America." Clearly, the main culprit is the US. "What I'm saying," Al-Khazen concluded, "is that if the bigger Arab countries had behaved in a bigger way, then the president of a small Arab country would not have dared challenge common Arab interests in order to serve the interests of America." In another scathing critique of US foreign policy in Al-Hayat, Egyptian writer Gamil Mattar, in "The reform initiative has started to bear fruit", Mattar bitterly concludes, tongue in cheek, "The Bush administration can now assure the American voter that it has received a pledge from Arab leaders to comply with democratic reforms. "In the same breath, Bush would preoccupy the American voter with bringing Syria to book, hounding Iran, and laying the foundation stones of new democratic institutions in Iraq. Bush will also no doubt highlight the great accomplishments rendered Israel by his administration towards the elimination of the Palestinian problem." Kuwaiti writer Mohamed Al-Rumeihi lamented the Arabs' "perplexing relationship with the West". He explained that there is no region in the world where the West interferes with such impunity as in the Arab world. Some Arabs welcome such interference, hoping that it would introduce democratic reform. Others reject it outright and are prepared to fight it at any price. "The truth of the matter is that in the coming months, it will become clear to those who view the situation objectively and with an open mind, that the West, spearheaded by the US and Britain, are urging Arab political reform and that Libya is the testing ground," Al-Rumeihi wrote. Saudi papers were less openly anti-American in their commentaries. They appeared upbeat about the prospect of an inter-Arab rapprochement. "A four- way summit meeting in [the Egyptian Red Sea resort of] Sharm El-Sheikh today to rescue the Arab summit," ran a front page banner in Al-Jazira on Wednesday. The paper also spared a little space on domestic concerns. "Emir Sultan meets members of the National Association for Human Rights," ran another headline. Ar-Riyadh picked up on the pan-Arab theme. "Saudi-Egyptian summit in Sharm El-Sheikh, and Crown Prince Abdullah receives a message from [Syrian President Bashar] Al-Assad." Conspicuously absent from official Sudanese newspapers were details of the arrest of the chief Islamist ideologue Hassan Al-Turabi. Most preferred to dwell instead on pan-Arab squabbles and discontent. "[Sudanese President] Al-Beshir warned that differences of opinion between Arab leaders is no excuse for cancelling the Tunis summit," wrote the Sudanese daily Al-Ra'i Al-Aam. The paper quoted Al-Beshir as appealing to Arab leaders to urgently reschedule another summit. The Libyan pan-Arab daily Al-Arab, published in London, quoted the Algerian foreign minister as saying, "The postponement of the Arab summit is not the end of the world," and stressed the unanimity in the Arab world about the importance of rescheduling it. But the venue of a new summit remained a hotly contested issue. Asharq Al-Awsat warned that there is a Maghrebi cabal conspiring to hold the next Arab summit again in Tunis. The paper obviously preferred the summit to be hosted in another, less controversial venue. A few Lebanese papers on the other hand pretended that there was no real controversy surrounding the venue issue. However, the Lebanese daily Al-Anwar reported on a flurry of diplomatic activity to resolve the problem. "Cairo does not object to holding the summit in Tunis," the paper assured its readers. Two other Lebanese dailies, Al- Liwa ' and As-Safir predictably focussed on Arab disunity and the prospects of political reform in the Arab world. The former applauded the Sharm El- Sheikh summit as a "good beginning". The latter warned that the Arab League was in danger of disintegrating because of all the current talk of political reform and liberalisation in the Arab world. There was little room for other news reports. On Wednesday, Al-Hayat noted that Sajidah, Saddam Hussein's first wife, had left Syria for Qatar, and also reported the arrest of 30 Sudanese officers which it said had had a detrimental impact on the Sudanese peace talks currently under way.
