CAIRO, 26 June 2003 — Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa urged Arab information ministers yesterday to encourage the news media in their countries to debate badly needed political, economic and social reforms.
“Political, economic and social reforms in the Arab world have become necessary, and the Arab media must broach the subject and open discussion on this subject,” Moussa said in a speech opening a meeting of Arab information ministers.
The news media in Arab countries are under tight government control, with information ministries tasked with overseeing their work. “The world is speaking of the need for reform in our region... but our position must be that reform must be initiated by ourselves rather than imposed on us,” Moussa said.
The secretary general was referring to repeated statements from the United States demanding political and economic reform in the Arab world. US Middle East envoy William Burns said here Tuesday that the reforms wanted by the United States for Arab countries should come from within these countries and not be imposed from abroad. Moussa said, meanwhile, “that a deep reform of the Arab League was needed, 60 years after its creation,” adding that “we are working currently to undertake this reform. “But the league is only a reflection of the Arab world, its weaknesses or strengths reflecting those of the Arab world,” he said. “The question is to know whether the Arab states have the political will to carry out such reform.” The war against Iraq accentuated the divisions within the 22-member Arab League and several plans to reform the body are currently under debate.
