CAIRO: A popular figure in his native Egypt, Amr Moussa is standing unopposed for a second five-year term as Arab League secretary general at the organization s summit on Tuesday in Khartoum. Arab diplomats say 21 of the League s 22 members are likely to support Moussa, 70, at the March 28-29 summit. The United Arab Emirates has issues with him dating back to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. A dynamic personality with a lively sense of humor, the seasoned while often outspoken diplomat owes his popularity on the Arab scene to his strong stands against Israel. In a recent sign of his status at home, he made a triumphant entry to Cairo football stadium on Feb. 21 and was loudly applauded by some 100,000 Egyptian fans at the final of the African Nations Cup. If he were to run for president one day, in a free vote, he would be a sure-fire winner, said one of the diplomats in Cairo where the Arab League has its base. During the presidential elections last September, informal opinion polls and Egyptian blogs on the Internet indicated he would have been the frontrunner if he had challenged President Hosni Mubarak, who has been in power for 25 years. Of medium height and always impeccably dressed, Moussa excelled as Egypt s foreign minister for a decade between 1991 and 2001. Just months after the launch of the Palestinian intifada in late 2000, his appeal on the Egyptian street was underscored by popular singer Shaaban Abdel Rehim with the lyrics, I love Amr Moussa and I hate Israel . Despite his international stature, Moussa is not a favorite of Washington, especially after his key role in the recall of Egypt s ambassador to Tel Aviv two months after the outbreak of the intifada, according to the diplomats. From the early days of his tenure as foreign minister, to the delight of the Arab world, Moussa launched a campaign against Israel s nuclear program, when the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty was being renewed in 1992. He also strongly opposed any moves toward Israel s economic integration in the Middle East in the wake of the 1993 Palestinian autonomy accords, and has criticized hasty moves toward a normalization of ties with the Jewish state. As head of the Arab League, Amr Moussa warned on the eve of the Iraq invasion three years ago that the war to oust Saddam Hussein would open the gates of hell throughout the region. Married, he has a daughter who is married to a grandson of the late president Gamal Abdel Nasser. AFP
Arab League chief Moussa poised for second term
