SIRTE, Libya, 16 August 2005 — Leaders of Algeria, Egypt and Libya yesterday failed to agree on a date for an extraordinary summit of the Arab League, postponing any decision until after September.
“The date for the extraordinary summit will be set after the month of September,” Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said following talks in Libya with Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi and Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.
The League had said on Wednesday that Arab foreign ministers would meet in early September to discuss the summit, originally due to be held in the Egyptian resort of Sharm El-Sheikh on Aug. 3 following triple bombings there that killed at least 67 people.
The summit was again postponed “for a few days” after King Fahd passed away on Aug. 1. In the wake of the Sharm bombings, the summit had been expected to focus on the threat of regional terrorism, the Palestinian question ahead of Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, and Iraq. The Palestinians and the 21 Arab countries had said they would attend.
