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Al-Ahram Weekly 8 - 14 June 2000 Issue No. 485 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 8 - 14 June 2000 Issue No. 485
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Arabs deadlocked on Iraq
By Dina EzzatAlmost 10 years after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, Egypt, which fought with the allied forces to liberate Kuwait, is calling on all Arab states, particularly in the Gulf, to bring Iraq back into the fold as a means of reviving Arab unity. However, two Arab meetings which took place in Cairo this week showed that Egypt is not going to have an easy time promoting its views on Iraq.
A meeting of the foreign ministers of the Damascus Declaration from Egypt, Syria and the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states took place at the headquarters of the Foreign Ministry on Sunday evening and Monday morning. On Tuesday, Arab League Secretary-General Esmat Abdel-Meguid hosted in his office a meeting of the foreign ministers of Egypt, Syria, Yemen, Tunisia and Oman who are commissioned by the pan-Arab organisation to suggest a mechanism for the regular convocation of the Arab summit -- a matter that had been urged by almost all previous Arab summits.
Sources close to both meetings told Al-Ahram Weekly that the major stumbling block at both meetings seemed to be the persistent refusal of both Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to reintegrate Iraq into the Arab fold so long as Saddam Hussein ruled in Baghdad. "The pretext they use is that Iraq has not fully implemented the relevant UN Security Council resolutions and that -- despite 10 years of harsh international economic sanctions and scrupulous arms inspections -- it still poses a military threat to its neighbours," one informed source said.
"We feel that the GCC could not be held responsible for the current state of Arab disunity -- sad as this state of affairs may be... We believe that to overcome the current Arab setback we should not bypass our mistakes and trespasses," Saudi Foreign Minister Saud Al-Faisal told the closing session of the Damascus Declaration foreign ministers meeting.
Al-Faisal made a point of saying that his statement was meant as a response to an opening speech made by Foreign Minister Amr Moussa who said that "from both the political and humanitarian perspectives it is becoming impossible to keep our brothers in Iraq living under the sanctions without them being able to see any light at the end of the tunnel." Moussa held "all Arab governments" responsible to exert "the necessary efforts" in cooperation with and under the auspices of the UN "to remove the economic sanctions imposed on Iraq."
Obviously there is a wide gap between the Egyptian stance on Iraq and that of Kuwait, which had wanted to include in the final communiqué of the Damascus Declaration language suggesting it is imperative for Iraq to apologise for the invasion of Kuwait in 1990. This line, some Arab diplomats argue, ignores the high price that Iraq paid over the past 10 years for its invasion of Kuwait. Iraqi officials say that it is out of the question for Iraq to apologise to Kuwait because the "military incident of August 1990" was prompted by "Kuwait's provocation." Some Iraqi officials say Baghdad had suggested a compromise under which "all parties acknowledge their responsibilities." This formula was categorically turned down by Kuwaiti and Saudi officials.
Eventually, the language that appeared in the final communiqué after hard bargaining fell way short of the guidelines of action as suggested by Moussa's speech. "This is a grouping of mostly Gulf states so it is only to be expected that the language adopted in the final communiqué would tilt towards the GCC point of view, especially if we are talking about a matter as sensitive to the Gulf countries as Iraq," commented one diplomat.
One Qatari source said, "The GCC had shown reluctance to ideas proposed by Qatari Foreign Minister Hamad Bin Jassim who suggested the need for reconciliation between Iraq and Kuwait. So, it would have been surprising if they went along with what Egypt was suggesting."
"Out of keenness by the countries of the Damascus Declaration for the security and stability of Kuwait, the ministers asserted that Iraq had to commit itself to the UN Security Council resolutions of relevance to its occupation of Kuwait," read the opening line of the four paragraphs dedicated in the communiqué to Iraq. And as for the plight and suffering of the Iraqi people, the communiqué expressed neither commitment nor intention on the part of the Damascus Declaration to encourage the Arab countries to extend help to the Iraqi people.
"Kuwait still insists that the issue of Iraq is an international and not an Arab matter since it is regulated by UN Security Council resolutions," said one GCC source close to the meetings.
This is not at all what Egypt says. In the press conference that he held after the meetings, Foreign Minister Moussa said that Egypt believes the Arab world has a responsibility towards the Iraqi people.
This failure to make any significant progress on Iraq could also be felt in discussions on the possibility of holding Arab summits annually that were held at Tuesday's meeting at the Arab League headquarters. Before going to the meeting, Yemeni Foreign Minister Abdel-Qader Bajamal told reporters that an Arab summit should be held "in any event" and that the issue of participation in the summit should be agreed on "by consensus." Only a few weeks ago Bajamal was talking of "a full Arab summit."
The resolutions adopted at the Tuesday meeting said Arab League Secretary-General Abdel-Meguid recommend that there should be "a full annual Arab summit" to be held at the headquarters of the Arab League in March.
However, the resolutions of this meeting would still have to be reviewed by the Arab foreign ministers in their council meeting in Cairo next September. Then, Egypt, the current chair of the Arab summit should call for a foreign ministers meeting to ponder the matter. For now, the Arab foreign ministers must brief their heads of state on recommended procedural and political ideas related to the annual convocation of the summit. "If the heads of all Arab states, including Iraq, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, approve these ideas before March, then an Arab summit attended by Iraq could be expected at that time," said one Omani source.
But even if this happened, it would be hard to see the possibility of an Arab summit in March 2001 taking a decision to lift economic sanctions on Iraq as has been repeatedly requested by Baghdad. In their Tuesday meeting, the foreign ministers of Egypt, Syria, Yemen, Tunisia and Oman accepted, sources say, that all major political decisions could only be made by the Arab summit by consensus. Given the stance of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia on Iraq in last week's Damascus Declaration meeting, many Arab diplomats believe it is hard to see these two countries agreeing to lift or even ease sanctions on Iraq next March -- that is, if the long debated summit did take place at that time.
