Libya’s mercurial leader Moammer Gaddafi walked out of the Arab summit on Saturday, overshadowing debate on democratic reform, condemnation of abuse at United States-run prisons in Iraq and an appeal for protection for the Palestinians.
The boycott by Gaddafi threw the spotlight back on rows that Arab leaders had tried to put behind them as they opened their summit in Tunis on Saturday, one that Tunisia had planned to host on March 28 before it cancelled it at the last minute, citing disputes on proposed reforms.
Unruffled by Gaddafi’s departure during the opening session, the leaders of the 22-member Arab League held closed-door talks later inside the conference centre and delegates said they appeared set to approve resolutions worked out carefully weeks in advance of the rescheduled meeting.
Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa had warned the leaders in his opening speech about ”voices” calling for the league’s breakup and urged them to prevent its collapse — remarks which one delegate said amounted to veiled criticism of Gaddafi and may have prompted his walkout.
Gaddafi, who left the hall during Mussa’s speech, told a press conference later he had disagreed with the agenda, but did not specify, and he also renewed a previous threat to withdraw from the Arab League.
The Libyan leader, who has long accused Arab leaders of failing to defend the Palestinians and Iraqis, remarked that the summit was taking place as Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was under virtual Israeli house arrest in the West Bank and ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was in US military custody.
The meeting opened against the backdrop of Arab popular rage over the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by US prison guards in Iraq as well as Israeli military raids in the Gaza Strip that have cost the lives of more than 40 Palestinians in the last week.
In a satellite link-up from his West Bank headquarters, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat issued a call for peace and an appeal for help to the assembled kings, presidents, prime ministers and other delegates.
”I proclaim here before you and the world our commitment to a peace of the brave,” Arafat said from Ramallah, where Israeli forces have confined him for two years.
Wearing his trademark black and white checkered headdress, he urged Arabs to lobby for an international force to protect his people and a revival of negotiations based on the internationally drafted but troubled peace plan known as the roadmap, which includes a provision for a Palestinian state.
Past appeals for an international force for the Middle East have fallen on deaf ears amid Israeli opposition.
An Arab delegate said that the Palestinian representative here, Farouk Kaddoumi, appealed for financial and other emergency assistance for the Palestinians.
As he opened the gathering at a flag-bedecked conference centre in Tunisia’s seaside capital on the Mediterranean, Tunisian President Zine El Abidine ben Ali held a minute’s silence for Palestinians killed in the recent Israeli raids.
Ben Ali also denounced terrorism, vowed Arabs would pursue political and economic reform at their own pace and in harmony with tradition, and reiterated the need for the US-led occupation to ensure Iraq remains whole and recovers its sovereignty.
The leaders are expected to approve a draft enshrining these ideas on Iraq — but also denounce the abuse by US guards of prisoners at Iraq’s infamous Abu Ghraib prison and demand those responsible be punished.
A senior Arab official said the summit was heading toward a moderate stand and would adopt a resolution that ”condemns military operations against Palestinian civilians and Palestinian leaders, as well as operations against civilians, without discrimination”.
That would be a first for an Arab summit and would underscore a desire to revive the Arab-Israeli peace process, left crippled by more than three years of violence, on the basis of trading land occupied by Israel in 1967 for peace, delegates said.
Critics charge that Arab governments are so weak they are at the mercy of the hardline policies of US President George Bush and his main regional ally Israel.
Mussa admitted that the Arab League ”is currently going through a difficult time and faces major challenges,” warning leaders: ”Don’t let it collapse.”
Delegates say that in return for trying to defuse regional tensions, Arab leaders will be given more say in a revised US document on regional reform to be presented to the June 10 summit of the Group of Eight major industrialised nations and Russia.
The Arabs insist that change must come from within and reject any foreign interference. But analysts say authoritarian governments fear democratic reforms could eventually cost them their holds on power.
The United States sees Arab reforms as crucial for removing some of the frustrations it believes have led to anti-American terror attacks.
Arab foreign ministers were expected to debate Egyptian proposals for political reform later on Saturday, delegates said. – Sapa-AFP