CAIRO: President Hosni Mubarak traveled to Saudi Arabia Sunday for talks with King Abdullah on an Arab summit due to take place in Syria next month, his office said on Saturday.
Oil powerhouse Saudi Arabia, which hosted the annual summit in 2007, has not yet received a formal invitation from Syria to attend the March 29-30 forum amid tensions between the two countries over Lebanon s presidential crisis. Mubarak, who received his invitation from Damascus earlier this month, will also discuss with King Abdullah the crisis in Lebanon, which has been without a president since November amid feuding between a majority backed by the West and several Arab states and an opposition supported by Syria and Iran. There is a crisis in ties with the Syrian government, with Lebanon the main reason, a Saudi official told AFP, asking not to be named.
Damascus has not joined in efforts, including the Arab initiative, to elect a consensus president in its smaller neighbor to the west, a Saudi official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The Arab League plan calls for the election of army chief General Michel Sleiman as consensus president, the formation of a national unity government in which no single party has veto power, and a new electoral law.
Despite agreement on Sleiman, feuding Lebanese politicians have failed to agree on power-sharing in a future government.
Arab analysts and recent media reports have suggested that Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab countries may boycott the Damascus summit or send low-level delegates. -AFP
