The Arab League (AL) said on Sunday the United Nations Security Council should set a timetable for the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Iraq. Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa listed what the Cairo-based organisation believed were the key issues for easing the crisis in Iraq.
Apart from setting a timetable for US-led coalition to leave, the list also includes a call for the fair distribution of wealth and the disbanding of all militias, which are demands that Arab leaders have repeated many times.
"I suggest that these foundations be included in a binding UN Security Council resolution that all Iraqi and other parties with present roles in Iraq should respect and follow," Moussa said in a speech to a meeting of Arab foreign ministers.
The United States has rejected calls for setting a date for its troops, who make up the vast majority of multinational forces, to leave the country they invaded in 2003.
Arab governments have little influence in Baghdad. The Arab League representative in Iraq resigned in January because of his frustration over the situation in the country. Arab foreign ministers agreed to appoint a new Arab League representative in Iraq to replace the envoy who resigned in January. The ministers agreed to appoint ambassador Tareq Abdel-Salam, the current deputy representative in Baghdad to lead the mission.
Mukhtar Lamani quit in January in frustration over the worsening situation in Iraq, saying the Arab League was unable to improve conditions for Iraqis.
COMPLAIN AT NUCLEAR REVIEW MEASURES:
Arab foreign ministers complained that three nuclear powers-the United States, Britain and Russia-had tried to change the procedures for reviewing the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in 2010.
A letter distributed by British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett on behalf of the three NPT depository governments departs from previous practice by dropping any reference to a 1995 resolution advocating a nuclear-free Middle East, according to an Egyptian government statement.
"The explanatory paragraph was omitted which was put in previous letters and which indicated the need for the preparatory committee ... to deal with the Middle East resolution passed by the 1995 conference," the statement said.
The Middle East resolution called on all states in the Middle East to join the Non-Proliferation Treaty and open their nuclear facilities to international inspection.
The main target of the resolution was Israel, which has never signed the treaty, rejects inspections and is widely believed to have more than 200 nuclear warheads.
Arab governments are suspicious that the nuclear powers wanted to discourage the 2010 conference from paying attention to Israel's nuclear activities, an Arab diplomat said.
The United States has discouraged debate on Israel's nuclear programme while mobilising international opposition to Iran's programme, which Iran says is for peaceful purposes.
Arab foreign ministers adopted an Egyptian proposal to write to Beckett asking her to circulate a corrected version of the procedures, reinstating the customary references to the Middle East resolution.
Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa told a news conference at the end of the meeting: "We do not share the view that the question that threatens the security of the region lies in Iran, or only with Iran."
LIBYA WON'T GO TO SAUDI ARABIA:
Libya has told the Arab League it will not attend an Arab summit in Saudi Arabia this month because of a change in venue, Arab diplomats said.
The Arab summit in Khartoum last year said the annual meeting this year would take place in Egypt, where the Arab League has its headquarters. But Saudi Arabia, which will hold the chairmanship, later offered to host the event in Riyadh and the Arab League accepted the invitation.
Libyan Foreign Minister Mohammed Abdel-Rahman Shalgam said: "There was a summit decision in Khartoum that the next meeting would be held in the headquarters country (Egypt), then they move it to Saudi Arabia. On what basis? Who made this decision and how was it made?"
He was speaking to Cairo reporters who asked him why Libya would not attend the summit.
The Libyan minister also complained about the hostile attention that some Arab governments have been giving Iran. "Iran has now become the enemy of the Arabs instead of Israel-what's this nonsense?" he said.
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