Arab League Mulls Emergency Meeting over Libyan Pullout Threat

29/10/2002| IslamWeb

HIGHLIGHTS: ||Meeting Could Convene within a Week or Two||Consultations Underway Between Secretariat & Arab Leaders on Measures to Counter League's Failings||Libya Agrees to Put Withdrawal From League on Hold for the Moment||Qatar Agrees with Libya on League Emergency Session to Discuss Arab Situation||
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STORY: The Arab League is considering calling an emergency meeting of foreign ministers from its 22 members to discuss Iraq and the Palestinians after Libya threatened to pull out over its failure to do more to address Arab causes, League chief Amr Mussa said.

"Intensive discussions" are under way with Arab foreign ministers aimed at convening the meeting "within a week or two" to "debate the serious situations in Iraq and Palestine," Mussa told reporters in Cairo.

He said President Emile Lahoud of Lebanon, current holder of the League's rotating presidency, had asked him to explore an emergency meeting in a telephone call Sunday.

Mussa, who dashed to Tripoli on Saturday in a bid to secure a change of heart from Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi, announced earlier in the day that he had opened contacts on "how to reactivate consultations between Arab countries" and measures to counter the League's failings.

Libyan officials had expressed anger at the League's failure to do more to address Israeli attacks on the Palestinians and US threats against Iraq, Mussa said.

But they had agreed to put Libya's withdrawal on hold "for the moment", he added.

In Tripoli, a visiting Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabr al-Thani also agreed to the idea of an emergency Arab League meeting on the Libyan pull-out threat.

"We agree with the Libyan authorities on the urgency of a meeting to discuss the Arab situation," he told a reporters after meeting with the Libyan leader.

PHOTO CAPTION

Arab League Secretary General, Amr Moussa (photo), says League is considering calling an emergency meeting of foreign ministers from its 22 members to discuss Iraq and the Palestinians after Libya threatened to pull out over its failure to do more to address Arab causes.