CAIRO, 5 April 2004 — Arab leaders could meet “even on the moon” as long as they resurrect the summit that collapsed last week in Tunis, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said yeterday.
Smiling as he spoke to reporters after talks here with Syrian President Bashar Assad, Mubarak said many Arab leaders agreed on the importance of rescheduling the summit, and that it might be held as early as May.
Mubarak said he and Assad, who returned to Damascus following a visit lasting a few hours, “agreed that a summit must be held.”
The Egyptian leader, speaking on state television, said it was up to Arab leaders to decide on the venue, but as far as he was concerned, it could be held “in Egypt, Yemen, Tunisia, in any Arab country, and even on the moon.”
He said that his offer for Egypt to host the summit, after it was cancelled in Tunis last week, was aimed at “saving the situation and preventing protests in Arab countries.”
Tunisia has continued to insist on its right to hold the summit after postponing it indefinitely. It made the move after the failure of Arab foreign ministers to agree on proposals it deemed essential for Middle East political reform.
Mubarak added that the postponement of the summit, originally scheduled for last Monday and Tuesday, was not in the “interests of the Arab nation.”
In recent days, Mubarak has consulted with a number of Arab leaders, in person and over the telephone, to get the summit back on track and proposed it be held at the Arab League’s headquarters in Cairo.
“Tunisia must undertake contacts with Arab countries to see if the summit will be held in Tunisia or” in a place decided on by “the majority,” Mubarak added.
When asked about a new date, Mubarak replied: “I don’t think the summit will be held in April. I will be traveling, and so will the king of Jordan, and some leaders will not be available in April. It is possible in May.”
The Egyptian leader added that “any summit in the world” can have problems, while also saying that “reform was not an obstacle.”
The Egyptian government newspaper Al-Ahram said Assad had several telephone conversations with Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali to convince him to hold the summit in Cairo.
