By Dina Ezzat THE FOREIGN ministers of Saudi Arabia, Syria, Yemen, and Oman arrived in Cairo yesterday for talks with Foreign Minister Amr Moussa on how best to ensure the success of an upcoming Arab foreign ministers meeting on Iraq. The consultations, due to start last night, were to focus on formulating the lowest common Arab denominator that would allow the Arabs to deal with the Iraqi people without getting too involved with the regime in Baghdad. The five ministers, who last met less than two weeks ago in Hurgada, are expected to compare notes on their subsequent contacts with other parties, both Arab and non-Arab. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saoud Al-Faisal is to brief his counterparts on the results of a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) meeting that took place earlier this week. GCC foreign ministers were expected to hold a second meeting in Jeddah today. Yemen's Foreign Minister Abdel-Qader Bajamal, meanwhile, is to bring news of his direct discussions with the Iraqi regime, particularly on the issue of containing any Iraq-Arab media campaigns. For its part, Iraq, in an apparent policy shift, said it would prefer a balanced dialogue with other Arab states. A spokesman said Iraq "sees a need for a balanced dialogue based on good intentions under the umbrella of the Arab nation to find practical solutions that preserve pan-Arab security." Further inter-Arab coordination on Iraq is expected. Moussa says he is in constant contact with most of his Arab counterparts. Sources suggest that a summit between President Hosni Mubarak and Sheikh Zayed, the president of the United Arab Emirates, may now be imminent. In addition, US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright is expected in Cairo on 28 January for a few hours visit during which she will hold talks with top Egyptian officials. Sources said that Cairo intends to tell the secretary that another military strike against Iraq would provoke serious public outrage and would certainly have "grave consequences."
