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Al-Ahram Weekly 25 - 31 March 1999 Issue No. 422 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 25 - 31 March 1999 Issue No. 422
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Focus Profile Features Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Bound and helpless
By Salah Issa *
Only the secretary-general of the Arab League seems interested in celebrating the League's 54th anniversary. Since its establishment in 1945, the general feeling has been that the League has done nothing, has no role in the present, and is quite futile for the future. During its existence, all the Arab states gained their independence, their populations doubled, their GNP soared and the number of member states multiplied. Yet the League suffers from financial crises perpetrated by states that refuse to pay their subscriptions under the pretext that they represent an unjustified expense.
Those who pay and those who do not, however, share the view that the League suffers from a chronic absence of political vision rather than a shortage in funds. The League cannot claim credit for solving any political dispute involving an Arab country. Border problems are now referred immediately to the Security Council or the International Court of Justice. Ethnic and religious minorities are oppressed until foreign powers are brought in for protection and support. The League has failed to reach any consensus on Palestine and Iraq. Arab trade has declined.
The helplessness of the Arab League is not rooted in its Charter, which permits member states to refrain from implementing resolutions they opposed: many states have refrained from honouring resolutions they endorsed. This helplessness cannot be remedied by an amendment of the Charter, or by the decision to adopt resolutions by a majority rather than a consensus; nor can it be resolved by the creation of new institutions.
The problem is one of priorities, and the inability to see eye to eye on matters of national security. Each Arab ruler places his personal security before that of his country, and his country's before that of the Arab nation. Only when the awareness dawns that these levels of security are not contradictory will the Arab League will really be a league of Arab states.
* This week's Soapbox speaker is a veteran journalist and political analyst.
