Some Arab states are mulling the creation of a new regional grouping adapted to the post-Iraq war situation, which would exclude some current Arab League members, Arab diplomats revealed. The new gathering would be a sub-group of theArab League, and not a replacement for the 22-member Cairo-based pan-Arab organisation, they said. The League celebrated its 58th anniversary on March 22 in a bitter mood, after failing to forge a credible common stance on the US-led war on Iraq, or press forward with a collective initiative to prevent it.

"The new group will be adapted to international and regional developments," one diplomat told AFP, adding that "some Arab states will be excluded because of negative past experiences."

"The new group will lay out conditions for admission to the group" to enable it to implement unified positions, he said.

The diplomat did not disclose which states would be excluded or where the idea originated, but Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said Monday the war in Iraq had "raised question marks on the possibility that Arabs could set up a common modern security system."

He called on Arabs to set up "efficient mechanisms" to achieve "coordination based on mutual trust."
Two other Arab diplomats based here confirmed the report.


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Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said the war in Iraq had "raised question marks on the possibility that Arabs could set up a common modern security system"(AFP/File/Tim Sloan)