29 March - 4 April 2001
Issue No.527
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 29 March - 4 April 2001 Issue No.527 |
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Glimmerings of hope
The Arab leaders' decision in Amman to nominate Foreign Minister Amr Moussa as the next head of the Arab League reflected their collective desire to reactivate the role of the 55-year-old organisation. The outspoken and dynamic minister, despite the constraints of his post in an organisation that includes 22 members, will breathe life into the Arab League's stagnant institutions, which have caused many Arabs to lose faith in the possibility of collective Arab action.
What is likely to help Moussa in achieving this goal is the Arab leaders' agreement during their emergency summit in Cairo in October to meet on the highest level at least once a year. Thus, what cannot be solved in one summit could be followed up in the next meeting. The new Arab League secretary-general will be responsible for creating the mechanisms necessary to follow up on the implementation of decisions reached by the Arab leaders in their regular meetings.
From this perspective, the inability of Arab leaders in Amman to solve the ongoing dispute between Iraq, on one hand, and Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, on the other, should not be cause for great anxiety. On the contrary. For the first time in 10 years, Arab leaders frankly discussed ways of overcoming the deep rift created in the Arab world by Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in August 1990. Both Iraq and Kuwait submitted compromises that may well improve chances of a better deal in the future.
The Amman Declaration approved by Arab leaders at the end the summit also includes a clear call to lift the sanctions imposed on Iraq, and deal with the humanitarian problem of Kuwaitis and Iraqis missing since the Gulf War. The Arab leaders did not remind Baghdad of its responsibility to implement all Security Council resolutions, because the Iraqis claim they have already done that. At the same time, Kuwait received an unprecedented pledge that Baghdad will work on solving the problem of the missing Kuwaitis.
Jordan's King Abdullah, who is head of the Arab summit until its next meeting in Lebanon in 2002, will also be following up on the intense discussions held in Amman about how to overcome the deep differences between Iraq and Kuwait. Thus, even if its results were not up to the expectations of all the Arabs, who seek an immediate lifting of sanctions imposed on the Iraqi people, the summit was at least a good start.
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