A rchive Date
[ 04-09-2002 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ Egypt ]
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[http://www.canoe.ca/CNEWS/iraqarabs_sep4-ap.html
Arab foreign ministers to discuss Iraq
By SARAH EL DEEB-- Associated Press
Wednesday, September 4, 2002
CAIRO (AP) -- Threats to Iraq were "the critical challenge" facing the region, the Arab League chief said Wednesday at the start of a foreign ministers' meeting that also addressed the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and Sudan's civil war.
Iraqi cabinet ministers have spent the past week touring the world, including Arab capitals, to drum up support in the face of increasing speculation the United States, with British support, will invade Iraq on grounds it is illegally amassing weapons of mass destruction.
Arab governments oppose any attack, saying it would lead to destabilizing protests among ordinary Arabs already angry at the United States, which is seen as biased toward Israel in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Arab leaders have also called on Iraq to respect UN Security Council resolutions and allow the return of UN weapons inspectors.
"The critical challenge that's facing us now is the threat directed at Iraq ... this constitutes a danger for the stability of the entire region," said Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa.
Moussa urged Iraq to work with the United Nations to resolve problems, starting with the return of weapons inspectors and moving from there to Iraq's demands that UN trade sanctions be lifted and its territorial integrity be guaranteed.
Iraq said Tuesday it was ready to discuss a return of UN weapons inspectors, but only in a broader context of ending the sanctions imposed by the United Nations since Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990. The United Nations has said the return of inspectors must be the priority.
With some Arab states, including regional power Egypt, calling on Iraq to do more to defuse the crisis, Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri told reporters Tuesday his delegation would not make specific demands at the Arab League.
"I hope we will find a solution based on the Security Council's resolution, so I don't want to be a prophet of doom," said Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher, asked Wednesday what would happen if Iraq continued to block UN arms inspectors, who are charged with verifying that Baghdad has eliminated its weapons of mass destruction.
On other issues Monday, Moussa referred to the Sudanese government's decision earlier this week to withdraw from peace talks after rebel forces took control of an important town in southeastern Sudan. Moussa said the withdrawal should be seen as a temporary setback and called for a quick return to ceasefire talks.
The meeting began with Kuwait handing over the rotating chair to Lebanon. The league groups 21 Arab states and the Palestinian Authority.
The envoy from Kuwait, invaded by Iraq in 1990 and freed by the U.S.-led Gulf War coalition the next year, did not mention Iraq in his handover speech. Instead, Mohammed Sabah El Salam El Sabah, the Kuwaiti foreign minister, spoke of the Israeli-Palestinian issue, calling on Israel to meet its international obligations and saying Kuwait, as a country that had been occupied, had special understanding of the Palestinians' suffering.
After the public opening, the ministers went into a closed session that lasted about three hours before they broke for lunch. Hisham Youssef, Moussa's spokesman, said the initial discussion touched on Iraq "in the context of the general situation in the region" and on Palestinian requests for financial help from fellow Arabs.
Youssef did not answer when asked whether the Arabs were trying to pressure Iraq to allow weapons inspectors.
Iraq has blocked UN arms inspectors since 1998. Sabri has held three rounds of negotiations this year with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on the issue. In an exchange of letters last month, Annan declined further negotiations until Iraq accepts the return of inspectors. American officials have indicated in recent weeks that the return of weapons inspectors would not necessarily stave off a U.S. military strike.
In Baghdad on Wednesday, Saddam published a letter in state-run newspapers saying Iraq could defeat any attacker in the world.
"Our victory over the enemy will be accomplished, regardless of their types of weapon, schemes and technical capabilities," Saddam wrote in the letter, which was addressed to the Iraqi and Arab people and "all free men in the world."
Later, the official Iraqi News Agency quoted Saddam as saying: "We want a comprehensive solution that leads to the lifting of the sanctions .... There are reciprocal commitments and Iraq has already fulfilled its commitments but they (UN Security Council members) haven't."
Saddam also accused Americans of wanting "to strike any Arab country they think constitutes a threat to Israel."
INA said Saddam spoke during a meeting with Yemeni parliament speaker Sheik Abdullah al-Ahmar, who was in Baghdad attending a meeting of Arab parliamentarians convened in a show of support for Iraq.
 World Fact Book (CIA)]
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