Arabs reject war against Iraq
SHARM EL-SHEIKH (Egypt) -- Arab leaders 'completely rejected' any US-led strike against Iraq, or taking part in one, at a heated summit here on Saturday, but also swept aside a surprise proposal for President Saddam Hussein to step down to avoid a war.
Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa read a final resolution following the one-day summit which rebuffed plans for a war on Iraq. It also stated the Arab leaders' 'refusal to participate in military action' and called for a peaceful resolution to the crisis under the aegis of the United Nations.
The resolution adopted at this Red Sea resort further blasted 'attempts to impose changes in the region,' referring to US demands that the Iraqi strongman be removed from power, possibly as a precursor to democratic reforms in the region.
That clause was also a dismissal of a plan presented by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) suggesting that 'the Iraqi leadership quit power and leave Iraq, within a two-week time limit after it accepts this initiative'.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri described the plan as US-inspired 'bilge' and expressed satisfaction that it was not even discussed at the summit attended by leaders and senior officials from the 22 Arab League members.
Mr Saddam has said he would rather die than go into exile.
But UAE Information Minister Sheikh Abdullah Zayed said the initiative had the backing of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, and deplored the summit's failure to discuss it as it 'could spare Iraq the torment of war'.
The UAE plan was the first open call by an Arab state for Mr Saddam to quit the country, although the idea had been debated secretly, according to delegates.
The plan suggested Iraq come under temporary UN and Arab League tutelage and provided that international and national 'judicial guarantees be given to the Iraqi leadership to make sure that it won't be prosecuted'.
It also called for 'a general amnesty for all Iraqis, inside or abroad'.
The proposal followed fresh suggestions by US President George W. Bush and his Secretary of State Colin Powell that a war could be avoided if Mr Saddam stepped down, and their lobbying for Arab leaders to encourage such a move.
The summit also pleaded for UN weapons inspectors be given more time to disarm Iraq peacefully. It decided to set up a committee led by Bahrain, the current chair of the Arab summit, and comprising Lebanon, the former chair, and Tunisia, the next chair, to explain the Arab position to 'international parties' before going to Baghdad for talks with the Iraqi leadership.
The summit's resolution was a compromise to satisfy both Iraq, which is backed by Syria, and the Gulf Arab states such as Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain, which are hosting US troops massing for the threatened conflict.
Those states, which are bound by defense pacts with Washington, can now argue that, in the event of a war, they are not participating directly and that US forces operating from their soil are doing so under a UN mandate.
Mr Sabri hailed the resolution for refusing foreign interference in Baghdad's internal affairs and for rejecting US-led war plans against his country. -- AFP |
