Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak strongly criticised Tunisia on Monday for cancelling the Arab summit it was due to hold this week, as he began talks with other leaders on saving the conference, probably by hosting it himself.
”I was astounded. I did not believe it was possible for a summit to be cancelled without anyone being consulted,” state media quoted Mubarak as saying in a telephone interview with a private channel of the Orbit group.
”The postponement of an Arab summit must be done in agreement with the heads of state,” Mubarak said.
”There was no reason for it, or for one party to impose its view in a unilateral manner.”
Mubarak said he had acted ”to save the situation” by calling on Sunday for the summit to be convened as soon as possible and offering to stage it in Cairo, the headquarters of the Arab League.
He added, however, that unlike ”certain countries” he had no objection to it taking place in Tunis.
”The place does not matter to me, I will go wherever it is; the summit must take place.”
Discussions were being held, and he saw no problem in having the gathering in two or three weeks’ time.
The Egyptian news agency Mena said Mubarak met on Monday with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal, after Arab diplomatic sources said Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz backed Egypt’s efforts to host a new summit.
The government daily Al-Ahram said Mubarak would also be meeting on Monday with King of Bahrain Hamad bin Issa Al-Khalifa.
Sources close to Mubarak’s staff said Bahrain, Jordan and Saudi Arabia backed the Egyptian move.
Crown Prince Abdullah, Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, agreed with Mubarak to undertake the contacts necessary to hold the summit in Cairo ”as soon as possible”, one Arab diplomatic source said, requesting anonymity.
During a telephone call initiated by Mubarak on Sunday, ”the two leaders agreed on the need to establish a suitable climate that would ensure the participation of most, if not all, heads of state in the summit”, the source said.
Abdullah had not planned to attend the summit due to open in Tunis on Monday, but he ”voiced regret at Tunisia’s decision to call off the meeting without consulting other Arab countries”, the source said.
Official Saudi sources said Faisal’s talks with Mubarak and Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher would focus on holding an extraordinary meeting of Arab foreign ministers to prepare for the summit.
Saudi Arabia, which had planned to make a joint reform initiative with Egypt and Syria in Tunis, decided to lower its representation, apparently due to what it perceived as an abundance of proposals on internal reform, restructuring of the Arab League and the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Riyadh has not yet made an official response to Egypt’s offer to host the summit, but state-run Saudi media have highlighted Cairo’s moves and Arab criticism of Tunisia’s last-minute cancellation.
Tunisia cited the rejection by other states of its own reform proposals as one of the reasons for calling off the summit, and has insisted it still has the right to stage the gathering.
Mubarak denied that he was trying to take Tunisia’s place, noting that after he had published his own statement he ”discovered that the brothers in Tunis were saying that they were clinging to their right to chair the summit”.
Mubarak doubted whether Tunisia’s postponement decision was linked to a recent visit by Tunisian President Zine el Abidine ben Ali to the United States, which is pushing for political reforms in the Arab world.
Mubarak also dismissed reports that the presence of members of the Islamist extremist movement Hamas in the Palestinian delegation was a factor, saying he was unaware of this.
In Sanaa on Sunday, an official in Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s office said he and Mubarak had agreed the summit would be held in Cairo on April 16, although this could not be confirmed by Arab League spokesperson Hisham Yussef.
The Egyptian government daily Al-Ahram, for its part, predicted the beginning of May at the latest. — Sapa-AFP