CAIRO, 10 February 2004 — Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri lent his backing to proposed reforms of the Arab League following talks here yesterday with the Cairo-based organization’s Secretary-General Amr Moussa.
“Lebanon supports the secretary-general’s proposals concerning the reforms to the Arab League, which are courageous and likely to help develop common Arab action,” Hariri told reporters.
The Lebanese prime minister said he and Moussa had also discussed “the difficult situation in the Arab world, Iraq and the organization of the next Arab summit” in March, to be held in Tunis.
In a bid to counter growing charges of ineffectiveness, the Arab League sent its 22 members a blueprint for change last month, due to be discussed in the Tunisian capital.
Hariri arrived in Cairo yesterday, and is due to meet Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Prime Minister Atef Ebeid today, for talks the Lebanese prime minister said would focus on bilateral cooperation.
Egyptian officials said Hariri and Mubarak would discuss an electricity project linking Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Turkey, as well as the extension of a pipeline to deliver Egyptian natural gas to Jordan and Syria.
The leaders are also expected to discuss the lifting of restrictions in both countries that bar the cross-border registration and sale of medications, and cooperation in the banking sector.
Meanwhile, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates have objected to a proposal to let the Arab League give observer status to non-Arab neighboring countries such as Iran, Ethiopia and Eritrea, league sources said yesterday.
The proposal appeared on a draft agenda prepared by the league’s legal committee for a meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo in early March, they said. Iran has asked for observer status and Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa said in December that the request should not be dismissed out of hand.
Blast in Refugee Camp
Three hand grenades exploded yesterday inside Lebanon’s largest Palestinian refugee camp, badly damaging a perfume shop and a grocery store, Palestinian and Lebanese security officials said. Nobody was hurt.
The grenades were hurled at dawn yesterday by unidentified assailants in the Ein El-Hilweh camp, located on the outskirts of the southern Lebanese port city of Sidon.
