Crucial Arab meet on Iraq stalemate today

BAGHDAD, JAN 23: Iraqi vitriol continued to fly today as the UN Security Council gropes in a spate of proposals and the Arabs prepare for...

BAGHDAD, JAN 23: Iraqi vitriol continued to fly today as the UN Security Council gropes in a spate of proposals and the Arabs prepare for tomorrow’s crucial meet on the vexed issue. On the eve of a crucial Arab League meet that spells to sow ferment among Arab nations, Iraq played upon the tension induced by the crisis saying Kuwait and the Saudi Arabia were toppling regional balances by providing ground for US conspiracy.

“It is the Kuwaiti regime which represents the real threat to the security after it violated and continues to violate all Arab and international conventions,” a spokesman for the culture and information ministry was quoted as saying.

Iraqi officials and the press have launched fierce verbal attacks on Kuwait, as well as neighbouring Saudi Arabia, for allowing US and British planes to use their territory. Iraq has said it will not respect the southern and northern no-fly zones imposed by the West.

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Meanwhile, PTI reporting from Cairo says the Arab League chief Esmat Meguid has urgedthe group meeting tomorrow to act in unison for a solution to the Iraqi problem. The one-day meet of foreign ministers of 22 member states would be a test for the Arabs, Meguid said and appealed to the participants to patch up.

The League chief, who has held consultations over the few days with Arab foreign ministers to finalise the agenda, said the parleys helped in “coming up with results that match the ambitions cherished by the Arab man in the street to forge one Arab stand.”

The daily Egyptian Gazette, however, expressed skepticism over the meeting making a breakthrough in pan-Arab unity.

In theory, the ministers will look into the possibility of holding an Arab summit whose declared aim would be healing inter-Arab rifts, but such a meeting looks distant in the foreseeable future, the paper said “as many Arab states do not favour a summit meeting which will most likely degenerate into squabbling and even an exchange of recriminations”.

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The conference was scheduled for December 30, 1998after the air strikes against Iraq, but was postponed to January 24 reportedly for more consultations and better preparations. Iraqi foreign minister Mohammad Al-Sahaf has already arrived here for the meeting.

Iraq had alleged the US was trying to stage manage the League meeting by urging some Arab states to adopt its line against Iraq. “We do not say the conference is a conspiracy. What we are saying is that the US is conspiring against Iraq,” foreign minister Al-Sahaf told media persons in Baghdad.