By Cam McGrath
CAIRO, Feb 21 2003 (IPS)

Widening rifts among the 22 member states of the Arab League threaten to derail their annual summit called in Cairo March 1.

The annual meeting had been scheduled in Bahrain for late March, but Egyptian officials pushed for an emergency session amid fears of imminent war in Iraq. The date and venue were changed after a week of feuding, say official sources.

Arab leaders publicly state their desire to avert a war, but do not agree who has the responsibility to prevent it. Traditional U.S. allies like Egypt and the oil-rich Gulf states want pressure on Baghdad to comply with United Nations (UN) resolutions. Syria, on the other hand, wants more done to stop what it sees as Washington’s sabre-rattling.

Divisions beneath apparently joint statements have surfaced in embarrassing ways. The foreign ministers issued a statement condemning any unilateral action against Iraq, and called on Baghdad to cooperate with UN weapons inspectors. The communiqué added that Arab states would refrain from providing "any sort of military assistance to any military action that would constitute a threat to the peace or security of Iraq or the unification of its land."

That last statement set off a row among Arab states. Kuwait said it had not approved this part of the resolution, and accused Lebanese foreign minister Mahmoud Hamoud, who was chairing the meeting, of improper conduct in introducing the controversial clause. Kuwait threatened to cut off aid to Lebanon and recall its ambassador.

"Kuwait’s problem is not with Lebanon," says Samir Atallah, a columnist with the Al-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper. "The problem is that it cannot call in the Americans against the Iraqi regime and then take an anti-war stand at the summit."

Kuwait was occupied by Iraqi troops in 1990 and then liberated by a U.S.-led coalition. Kuwait continues to host U.S. troops, as do Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, though each has declared publicly it will not participate in any military action against Iraq.

Qatar followed Kuwait’s lead, and lodged a formal complaint to the Arab League against Hamoud’s handling of the foreign ministers’ meeting. Qatari government-owned dailies blasted the Lebanese government for abusing the chairmanship of the meeting in order to take sides, alluding to Lebanon’s close ties with Syria.

The real blame for the imbroglio rests with the Syrians, says Emad Gad of Egypt’s Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies (ACPSS). "It was their proposal that Arab countries must refrain from allowing the U.S. to use their territory and bases for any strike on Iraq."

Gad says Syria is among several Arab countries that fear that once Saddam Hussein is eliminated, their regime could be next. Sudan and Yemen have similar reservations, he says.

The divisions have been worsened by the long-standing feud between Egypt and Saudi Arabia. President Mubarak refused to attend the Arab League summit in March last year, undermining a peace initiative between Palestine and Israel proposed by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdel Aziz.

Saudi Arabia thwarted Egypt’s attempts to organise an extraordinary Arab League summit in February. State-run Saudi newspaper Okaz quoted Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal as saying an emergency summit would be counterproductive in the face of bickering among Arab nations.

"If that summit does not emerge with a decision concerning the Iraq crisis agreed upon by all Arab states, it could make matters worse," he said.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak told reporters on the other hand: "Diplomatic consultations are under way and it does not matter if it is an emergency (summit) or a regular one. When the Arab summit convenes, the main interest will be to spare the Iraqi people the scourges of war."

The summit will be critical, says Gad. "Egypt and Saudi Arabia must play a role to bridge the gap, because if they fail it will be a dangerous rift," he says.

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