Summit ruckus in Lebanon

Several Arab countries are tussling over the next Arab summit, scheduled to be held in March. Will it go ahead in Lebanon as planned? Zeina Abu Rizk reports from Beirut
A tense stand-off between Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi and Lebanon's Shi'ite Muslim community is threatening to endanger the next Arab summit, despite assurances from Lebanese officials that the meeting will take place in March in Beirut as scheduled.
Last week, Shi'ite groups in Lebanon objected to the Libyan leader's participation in the summit. They staunchly maintain that Gaddafi was involved in the disappearance of Shi'ite Imam Moussa Al-Sadr. The Lebanese religious leader was last seen in 1978 during a visit to Tripoli.
Libya promptly responded by requesting that the summit be transferred to Cairo.
Nabih Berri, speaker of the Lebanese parliament and head of the Shi'ite Amal movement, was amongst the first officials to ask that the meeting be postponed. He argued that any meeting held at the moment would be an ineffectual talking shop without any action to back it up. There is little point in merely "elegising the (Lebanese) resistance, the same way the Cairo meeting of foreign affairs ministers last month elegised the Palestinian Intifada," he said.
"It seems that now it's Hizbullah's turn," Berri claimed in a news conference two weeks ago. He also said that he held information "about what is being asked of Lebanon concerning Hizbullah," adding that things were unlikely to change in the coming two months.
"What I want to avoid is a situation in which (Israeli Premier Ariel) Sharon is the main participant in this summit," said Berri. According to him, Sharon would be the major beneficiary of any meeting held now.
Unlike other Shi'ite officials, however, Berri refused to acknowledge the link between his request to postpone the summit and the Shi'ites' long-standing dispute with Gaddafi. Instead, he openly asserted that Al-Sadr's disappearance was an issue for the Lebanese government which should not interfere with the holding of the summit.
Berri's comments were at odds with remarks made by Sheikh Abdel-Amir Qabalan, head of the Higher Shi'ite Council. Qabalan asked that the Arab summit be held immediately, and demanded that Gaddafi bring the missing Imam along with him, "dead or alive."
These comments, along with others, prompted Tripoli to ask that the Arab summit be shifted to Cairo "for security reasons," in the words of Libyan Minister for African unity Ali Abdel-Salam Triki. Tripoli has filed an official request for moving the venue, the minister said on Sunday. He told satellite television channel Al- Jazeera that "circumstances are not favourable" to holding the summit in Lebanon. "Several heads of state would not take part (in the summit) for security reasons," he added.
On Saturday, Triki had explained that Libya's request followed calls by "a Lebanese party" to postpone the meeting -- a reference to Berri. Libya had only made the request after discussing it with other Arab states, he said.
Amid the turmoil, Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa blamed Lebanese Shi'ite leaders for threatening to ruin the summit by bringing up the Al-Sadr issue. He called on the groups to exercise restraint.
At the Arab League's Cairo headquarters on Sunday, Moussa told reporters that "all Arabs are under an obligation... not to endanger the chance of joint Arab action. These (Shi'ite) statements have threatened the holding of the next Arab summit in their country, something they should see as a great honour."
Moussa will be in Syria and Lebanon this week, and is also scheduled to meet Triki on the fringes of the east African summit in Sudan. He said efforts were under way to calm the political dispute over the summit, which is expected to focus on the Palestinian issue and resistance against Israeli occupation of Arab lands in general.
Syria's stand on the issue remained ambiguous, despite Damascus' public support for holding the summit on time in Beirut. Syrian Foreign Affairs Minister Farouq Al- Shar'a has asserted many times in recent weeks that the meeting should go ahead as planned.
Nevertheless, his comments failed to dissipate the impression -- particularly in Lebanese circles -- that Syria was, in fact, behind Berri's request to postpone the summit. Damascus is thought to be worried about the repercussions that the meeting might have on the Lebanese resistance, of which Syria is a major supporter. Furthermore, Berri's bid to delay the meeting intensified following his visit to Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad last December .
The Lebanese speaker firmly denied these accusations, however, claiming he was not a spokesman for Damascus.
"Syria is an active and key member (of the Arab League). Had it wanted to postpone the summit, it would have made the request openly without resorting to using me," claimed Berri.
On the other hand, Berri's demand to postpone the summit may also have been provoked by his recent domestic political feud with Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. The Lebanese premier has asserted on several occasions that the Arab meeting will proceed on time. He and other Lebanese officials -- including Education Minister Ghassan Salame, who is involved in preparations for the summit -- have charged that Berri's request was based on a "personal point of view," which does not involve the Lebanese government as such.
Many believe that Libya's call to transfer the summit to Cairo has convinced reluctant politicians here of the need to proceed with the meeting as scheduled. Both Lebanon and Syria would have more influence over the course of a meeting in Beirut than they would in Cairo. According to sources close to Damascus, Syrian officials in particular were disturbed by Libya's demand. Following Triki's request, Damascus reportedly advised its Shi'ite allies in Lebanon to stop all further calls to postpone the summit.
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