Wednesday, March 28, 2007
19th Arab Summit begins in Riyadh
Region, Security
(AP) - U.S. Arab allies at a summit Wednesday tried to rally other Arabs behind ways to win Israeli and Western support for an Arab land-for-peace offer, despite reluctance from Syria, hoping to build momentum for a breakthrough in the Mideast peace process. The peace initiative is the centerpiece of the two-day Arab summit, which convenes in the Saudi capital at a time when the United States has shown some progress in maneuvering all sides into place for a resumption in long-stalled negotiations.
The Riyadh summit comes amid a more assertive diplomatic role by Saudi Arabia in trying to resolve a string of crises in the Middle East, particularly the Lebanon crisis, the bloodshed in Iraq and Sunni Arab fears over the growing power of mainly Shiite Iran. On the Iraq issue, the summit is expected to push the Shiite Muslim-led Iraqi government to include more Sunni Arabs. The summit's final resolutions call for Baghdad to rewrite the constitution and rebuild the armed forces to accommodate more Sunnis.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari bristled at the resolutions, telling The Associated Press: "We do not need dictation from the Arab countries. Our national interest is our concern, not theirs. We want them to help fight terrorism and monitor (Iraq's) borders to prevent the influx of weapons," he said.
Iran's foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, is attending the summit as a guest. The Arab League is dominated by Sunni Muslim-led nations that are deeply suspicious of mainly Shiite Iran's influence in the region and see Iraq's Shiites as backing Iranian interests.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari bristled at the resolutions, telling The Associated Press: "We do not need dictation from the Arab countries. Our national interest is our concern, not theirs. We want them to help fight terrorism and monitor (Iraq's) borders to prevent the influx of weapons," he said.
Iran's foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, is attending the summit as a guest. The Arab League is dominated by Sunni Muslim-led nations that are deeply suspicious of mainly Shiite Iran's influence in the region and see Iraq's Shiites as backing Iranian interests.
Labels: 19th Arab Summit, Hoshyar Zibari
