New leader, new League

By Dina Ezzat
Arab leaders meeting in Amman this week confirmed previously obtained approval for the nomination of Foreign Minister Amr Moussa for the post of Arab League secretary-general. Moussa, 64, will take over his new post on 15 May, when current Secretary-General Esmat Abdel-Meguid ends his second five-year term.
Moussa's nomination, President Hosni Mubarak said in his opening speech before the summit on Tuesday, was a clear sign of Egypt's keenness to encourage the modernization of the Arab League at a time when the Arab world is preparing for improved cooperation.
"We are at the beginning of a new era... where we have to show effective response to the major challenges that face the Arab world," Mubarak said. He added: "We will always work to enhance the status of and continuously modernize [the Arab League] beyond the experiences of the past." Renowned for his outspokenness and principled stances against Israeli intransigence, Moussa, described as "the foreign minister of all the Arabs," is seen as the ideal candidate for his new post.
Mubarak's speech advocated a more comprehensive role for the Arab League than ever before, not only within its traditional mandate of observing Arab relations but also with a vision to a future role allowing the organisation to assist Arab efforts at a time of grave regional and international challenges.
"The present status of Arab politics... requires a bigger role for the Arab League," Mubarak stressed. This, he suggested, would necessitate a re-examination, and may be even a reworking, of the rules that have determined the League's standing and performance in the Arab world and abroad since its creation 55 years ago.
Other Arab leaders also spoke of the need to re-invigorate and redefine the role of its secretary-general. In his speech before the summit, Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad deemed it the responsibility of the Arab leaders "to empower and modernize the Arab League" half a century after its establishment.
Talk of the future, then, took up a good part of discussions among Arab leaders and ministers. Several resolutions titled "joint Arab work" and adopted by the Amman summit also focused on the same themes.
These stipulate that the secretary-general will receive a mandate to restructure the organisation's secretariat. He also received a mandate to implement the political and economic resolutions adopted by the summit. He will then present the next summit with a progress report to assess implementation.
"This is a big step ahead. Since the League's creation 55 years ago, the secretary-general has been mainly a coordinator or at best a go-between. This is changing," commented one diplomatic source at the summit. "When Moussa takes office in a few weeks, he will have far more prerogatives than any of his predecessors."
The resolutions also free the secretary-general from having to consult with the member states on every minor executive detail. "There will always be extensive consultations on the big issues, but Moussa's hands will not be tied," the source said.
The Arab League has been in dire financial straits due to the failure of member states to pay their annual share of its budget, and the summit accordingly adopted resolutions stipulating that all member states must pay their dues. These resolutions also call upon countries that have suspended their contributions to the budget in protest of what they deem an unfair distribution of shares to pay their dues; the League, in turn, will conduct a study to redistribute the burden of payment.
Moussa, who received much support and praise by Arab leaders who addressed the summit, is already examining restructuring options. "I am very hopeful to be able to work on setting Arab relations and cooperation in a new perspective," he told reporters. "This should not be too difficult to realise."
In Moussa's book, new vistas include not only a re-structured League and a revised charter, but also a better understanding of the organisation's role on the part of member states, and a stronger commitment to its agenda.
His goals seem fairly attainable. The ministerial follow-up committee established at the Cairo summit to assess progress in the implementation of resolutions is now to become a permanent body affiliated to the Arab League. The League will also be essential in administering a reconciliation committee with a limited membership selected from Arab foreign ministries to pursue reconciliation efforts.
"The Arab League could certainly build on the consensus that the Amman summit will reach with regard to the situation between Iraq and Kuwait," Moussa said on the eve of the summit.
He also believes the League should have a role to play "in emphasising the fact that the cultural aspect of Arab relations is as important as the economic and political aspects."
Moussa's vision for his task as secretary-general was outlined in the statement he made before the opening session of the foreign ministers' meeting on Saturday: "The issue that should concern us first is the need to unify the Arabs... and this is a huge task."
Amr Moussa
- Born 3 October 1936.
- Graduated from Cairo University's School of Law in 1957.
- Joined the diplomatic corps in 1973.
- Assigned Egypt's ambassador to India in 1987.
- Posted as Egypt's permanent representative to the United Nations in 1990.
- Egypt's foreign minister since May 1991.
- Secretary-General of the Arab League (as of 16 May).
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