CAIRO - AS some political analysts and diplomats have said Egypt's former diplomat Moustafa el-Fiqi will have a hard competition from other contenders over the top post in The Arab League, an Egyptian group Tuesday slammed his nomination as a 'step back'. Egypt on Monday nominated el-Fiqi, a career diplomat and a one-time assistant to ousted President Hosni Mubarak to be the next head of the Arab League. April 6th Youth Movement, which helped organize the 18-day protests that toppled Mubarak, rejected el-Fiqi's nomination, stressing that Egypt is full of other proficient diplomats who can take the post. "An Egyptian government representing revolutionaries and the Egyptian people is not supposed to nominate a man who used to serve the former regime for more than 20 years," read a statement from the group. El-Fiqi, 67, served as information assistant to Mubarak until 1992, according to a curriculum vitae published on his Facebook page. In 1995 he became Egypt's ambassador to Slovenia and Croatia. "We totally reject this nomination and ask the Government to review it. This country has efficient diplomats to lead the Arab League other than el-Fiqi, who represents the former corrupt regime," added the statement. Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil el-Arabi Monday aid he was confident that el-Fiqi's nomination would be approved by all Arab states. The regional body, composed of 22 Arab states, is based in the Egyptain capital. Most political analysts and diplomats said el-Fiqi would have stiff competition from Qatar's Abdelrrahman Al-Attiya, a former secretary-general of the Gulf Co-operation Counicil. "Qatar nominated Al-Attiyah to establish a new political fact that Egypt is no longer in monopoly of the post," a Cairo-based Gulf diplomat said in press remarks. According to the same diplomat, had Cairo nominated its foreign minister then Doha could have been persuaded to withdraw its candidate. "Now this is quite unlikely," he added. Syria, Saudi Arabia and some other Arab countries have already backed Egypt's hopeful for the post. "Al-Attiyah is a prominent diplomat with many good contacts across the Arab world but still not so many Arab countries are willing yet to see a Qatari secretary-general for the Arab League," one political analyst said.
