Arab summit struggles to heal rifts, Kuwait warns of peril
Thursday, 27 March 2014 00:00
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Reuters: Warning of “enormous” dangers, Kuwait urged fellow Arab leaders on Tuesday to resolve disputes complicating crises such as Syria’s war and unrest in Egypt, but diplomats said tensions bubbled behind the scenes at their annual summit.
The gathering of the 22-member Arab League also heard an appeal from the U.N. and Arab peace envoy for Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, for an end to the flow of arms to combatants in the war which has killed over 140,000 people and displaced millions.
Brahimi did not name the suppliers, but Saudi Arabia and Qatar are believed to be the main Arab funders of military assistance to rebels in Syria, while non-Arab Iran is the main regional power backing President Bashar al-Assad.
“The whole region is in danger” of being dragged into the conflict, Brahimi said in a speech delivered on behalf of U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Brahimi called for renewed efforts to revive the peace process launched earlier this year in Geneva to resolve the crisis, now in its fourth year.
“I appeal to members of the League of Arab States, working with the Russian Federation, the United States and the United Nations, to take clear steps to re-energise Geneva II,” he said, referring to the talks which collapsed in February after two rounds of talks mediated by Brahimi.
The summit host, Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, urged Arab states to overcome rifts he said were blocking Arab initiatives. “The dangers around us are enormous and we will not move towards joint Arab action without our unity and without casting aside our differences,” he said.
He named no country. But he was alluding to worsening disputes among Arab states over the political role of Islamists in the region, and over what many Gulf states regard as interference in their affairs by Shi’ite Muslim Iran, locked in a struggle for regional influence with Sunni rival Saudi Arabia.
Arab countries need to “confront any attempt to stir problems between our people and countries,” Egyptian President Adly Mansour said. They should support the national choices of each state “and refrain from being drawn to search for influence or a role that would only lead to dividing the Arab ranks”.
Prticipants at the summit said there were differences over Qatar’s support for the now outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group in Egypt, how to deal with Syria’s crisis and how to define “terrorism” in the region.
“Behind closed doors there is tension, but it’s all under the table, no confrontation was made (in public),” one of the diplomats said. “There are clear divisions over what Saudis and the Qataris think.”
In another sign of brewing discord, some delegates said it was possible the summit would take the rare step of not issuing a final communique, but a milder declaration summarising the meeting, suggesting consensus was proving elusive.
The summit followed an unusual dispute within the Gulf Cooperation Council alliance of Gulf Arab states over Qatari support for Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, and a spat between Iraq and Saudi Arabia over violence in Iraq’s Anbar province.
