Arab League summit opens amid divisions

Leaders hold annual meeting in Kuwait amid diplomatic fallout among Gulf countries and tension over Syria and Egypt.

Heads of Arab states are holding their annual summit amid an unprecedented diplomatic fallout among the Gulf countries and tension over the crisis in Egypt and the conflict in Syria.
Thirteen heads of states and other leaders have gathered in Kuwait for the two-day Arab League summit that began on Tuesday. 
Kuwait's Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah, in the opening session, called on Arab states to end rifts he said were obstructing joint Arab action.

"The dangers around us are enormous and we will not move towards joint Arab action without our unity and without casting aside our difference," Sheikh Sabah said.
He named no specific country, but was apparently referring to the rift inside the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) over the role of the Muslim Brotherhood in the region.

Pressure on Qatar

• Arab officials on Monday said some nations will likely use the summit to try to pressure Qatar to stop their perceived support of the Muslim Brotherhood and other opposition movements throughout the region.

Egypt and Saudi Arabia have labelled the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organisation, and two senior officials told the Associated Press news agency that those two countries would take the lead in attempting to isolate Doha by calling for a collective Arab approach to terror.
The summit follows weeks of escalated tensions over the issue. Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates have joined Egypt and Saudi Arabia in withdrawing their ambassadors from Qatar.
Qatar has reacted with dismay at the diplomatic gestures but insisted it will push ahead with its own policies.
Publicly airing differences among members of the GCC is unusual for the bloc, created in 1981 as a loose political and economic alliance. The members are Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the UAE, Qatar, Oman and Kuwait.

'Changing the balance'
The need for a collective Arab approach to terror will figure prominently in an address at the opening session by Egypt's interim President Adly Mansour, according to one of the Arab officials quoted by the Associated Press.

Syria's seat in the 22-nation bloc will remain vacant although the last annual summit, held in Doha, granted the seat to the opposition. Syria's membership was suspended in November 2011 over the government's bloody crackdown on dissent. 
The leader of Syria's opposition National Coalition, Ahmad al-Jarba, has been invited to address the Arab summit, but countries such as Iraq, Lebanon and Algeria expressed reservations to granting the seat to the opponents of the embattled Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad.
Saudi Arabia questioned as to why Syria's main opposition bloc was not granted the seat and called for "changing the balance of forces" on the ground in the conflict.
"Exiting from the Syrian crisis requires changing the balance of forces on the ground," Crown Prince Salman bin Abdul Aziz told the opening session, stressing the need for more support for the rebels.
Fadhel Jawad, the Arab League assistant secretary-general for political affairs, has said the Arab leaders will hold a special session during the summit in a bid to sort out their differences.
Algerian Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra said: "Not all issues are discussed in the meeting hall. Some issues are debated on the sidelines behind the scenes."
aljazeera.com
25/3/14 
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• Syria opposition leader urges anti-aircraft missiles

Head of the Syrian opposition coalition Ahmed Jarba has called for providing the opposition fighters in Syria with anti-aircraft missiles, asserting that no political breakthrough would be possible unless there is a "military progress" on the ground.

Jarba's call came during a late Monday meeting with U.N.-Arab League envoy on Syria Lakhdar Brahimi in Kuwait, where both are due to attend the Arab League summit, that would kick off Tuesday.
During the meeting, Jarba blamed the Syrian regime of President Bashar al-Assad for the "failure" of Geneva II talks earlier this year.

"The rude behavior of the regime delegation to the talks has shut all doors to any political settlement that is needed to end the suffering of the Syrian people," he said in a Facebook statement following the meeting.

Brahimi, for his part, said he would not call for a third round of Geneva II talks unless he is certain that it would be productive.

"There are many indications that the regime is planning presidential elections later this year, which contradicts with the principle of negotiations," he said, noting that holding the polls would render any talks "useless."

Syria's opposition and government representatives met in Geneva for a second round of talks last month.

The talks, however, did nothing to bring to an end the conflict that has been ravaging Syria for three years now.

• Jarba is expected to deliver a speech at the Arab summit's inaugural session on Tuesday.....(aa.com.tr)

25/3/14