CAIRO, 5 March 2004 — Arab foreign ministers adjourned a four-day meeting yesterday without producing a unified position outlining how to reform their societies, officials said of what essentially was expected to be an Arab response to the Bush administration’s strategy for opening up the Middle East.
The ministers “agreed to have further discussions on these ideas and plans,” Moroccan Foreign Minister Muhammad Benaissa said at a press conference after the meetings.
He said the ministers will discuss the matter again when they hold a final gathering in Tunisia just before an Arab leadership summit March 29-30.
“The whole matter will be discussed in Tunis,” Arab League chief Amr Mousa said.
Neither Benaissa nor Mousa explained why the ministers were unable to forge a unified position, although both described the reforms as daunting challenges.
The two men also said the ministers were unable to agree on how to reinvigorate the 22-nation Arab League. Reform suggestions made in preparation for the meeting included setting up an Arab Court of Justice to resolve inter-Arab disputes and changing the consensus-based system requiring unanimity on League decisions.
The ministers, however, called for reactivating a Middle East peace initiative their leaders endorsed in their 2002 summit in Beirut. That plan calls for full peace with Israel in exchange for a full Israeli withdrawal from territories it seized in the 1967 war. They did not say if they supported an unofficial Israeli-Palestinian peace accord reached last year in Geneva.
The ministers expressed support to Iraq and promised to help the war-battered country to restore its independence and sovereignty.
They also called for endorsing an Arab League human rights charter to replace the existing one, which has been criticized by international organizations as inadequate.
Arab nations have come under pressure from the United States and Europe to open up their societies.
The Bush administration is advocating an initiative modeled on the 1975 Helsinki pact that the West used to press for greater freedom and human rights in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Aimed at the arc of countries extending from Morocco to Pakistan, it urges governments adopt major political and economic reforms and be accountable on human rights issues, particularly women’s empowerment.
The administration was planning to present the plan at the G8 summit of industrial nations in June.
Arab nations, led by Egypt and Saudi Arabia, have denounced the initiative as an imposition of foreign ideas and interference in their internal affairs. They have pushed hard for Arabs to come up with a homegrown reform package.
On Wednesday, Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad ibn Jassem Al-Thani said Arabs should not reject the US proposal outright.
Mousa repeatedly has said that Arabs cannot support the Bush administration’s new strategy unless the United States addresses the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and restores stability in Iraq.
The ministers’ discussions focused on an Egyptian-Saudi initiative that encourages Arabs to play a larger role in running their political, economic, social and cultural affairs. The initiative, also backed by Syria, suggests Arabs coordinate their foreign and security policies through new supervision and follow-up agencies.
The Egyptian-Saudi initiative lacks specifics, such as the status of women, human rights questions, how to upgrade education systems and opening up rigid political systems. Still, regardless of whether Arab foreign ministers are able to agree on and polish a plan, their leaders are expected to discuss reform initiatives at the Tunisia summit.
