Posted on 04/04/2003 4:28:02 AM PST by kattracks
Arab League hangs in balance after Iraq war
By Sami Aboudi
CAIRO, April 4 (Reuters) - The U.S.-led war on Iraq has cast a shadow over the Arab League, which for 50 years embodied the aspirations of millions of Arabs for unity but is now under fire for failing to stop the latest Gulf war.
Disappointment at its failure to stop the war has sparked talk of scrapping the 22-member League, replacing it with something new, or introducing serious reforms.
Libya this week revived a request in October to withdraw from the League, in the most overt display of frustration. Other members are said to be equally unhappy.
Western diplomats in Saudi Arabia said the oil-rich kingdom was distressed at the League's ineffectiveness and Crown Prince Abdullah was keen to see it reformed.
"The future of the Arab League is now hanging in the balance," said Hassan Abu Taleb of Egypt's al-Ahram Centre for Strategic Studies.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak raised the need for change when he said in a speech this week that it was time to start thinking about the Arab structure to make it more effective.
Arab League officials acknowledge that the body is under great pressure to change but insist it should stay in business.
"Replacing the Arab League with another body is not easy because the League is what brought the Arabs together despite their differences and affiliations," Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa told reporters on Monday.
He noted that other international organisations such as the United Nations, NATO and the European Union had faced similar rifts over the Iraq war.
HEYDAY
Set up by seven, mostly semi-independent Arab states in 1945 as a forum to bring Arab states together, the League enjoyed a heyday in the 1950s and 60s under charismatic Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser.
A champion of pan-Arab nationalism, he led the Arab world's biggest country. But since Nasser, there has been no uncontested leader of the Arab world, with Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia vying for ascendancy.
The League's influence declined after Anwar Sadat succeeded Nasser in 1970, changing course from his pan-Arab policies. The first visible cracks appeared when Egypt signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, denounced by most other Arab states.
"The change in the Egyptian leadership which promoted a national (rather than pan-Arab) platform marked the decline of the League," Abu Taleb said. "The Camp David peace treaty exposed this weakness which began long before that."
Analysts and officials say a rigid charter drafted in 1945 emphasising the sovereignty of members states and the principle of unanimity has been a chronic problem for the League.
Little changed since its inception, the charter stipulates that decisions are taken unanimously. It allows for abstentions, which entitle the abstainer not to abide by a resolution.
The result has been either deadlock or watered down resolutions with little power of enforcement.
An Arab League summit in February agreed Arab states would not "participate" in a war on Iraq. That has not stopped Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Jordan and Saudi Arabia aiding the United States in various ways despite denials.
REFORM
Over the past 30 years, there have been dozens of proposals to reform the League. The most recent were presented by Libya, Qatar, Sudan and Saudi Arabia.
Officials say all the proposals call for changing the voting system and suggest reactivating the long-ignored Joint Arab Defence Pact, which requires Arab states to come to the aid of each other against any foreign attack.
"The problem is that there hasn't been a real will on the part of influential powers such as Egypt, Syria and Saudi Arabia to change the League," Abu Taleb said.
But he said the U.S.-led war on Iraq, which could see one of the biggest countries in the Arab world coming under foreign occupation, could be a sobering point for the Arabs.
"The Arab League as it is now is no longer suitable for the coming era. Either we accept the League as only a symbolic body in the cultural and moral sense or we embark on serious reforms," he said.
04/04/03 07:16 ET
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.