CAIRO: Egypt will send only a low-level delegation to this week s Arab League summit in Damascus, state media reported on Wednesday, the latest snub to Syria, which is widely blamed for Lebanon s political crisis.
Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit told the official MENA news agency that he would not attend the summit due to be held in Damascus on Saturday and Sunday but instead send State Minister for Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Mufid Shehab.
The delegation s downgrading reflects tensions with Syria over differences on how to deal with the political crisis in Lebanon, whose continuation Egypt and fellow regional heavyweight Saudi Arabia, as well as Lebanon itself, blame on Damascus.
Lebanon on Tuesday said it would not take part in the Arab summit because of what is said was Syria s negative role in the country s protracted crisis that has left it without a president for months.
Both Egypt and Saudi Arabia, which backs the government of pro-Western Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Seniora, had already announced that their leaders would boycott the summit, although Aboul Gheit had been expected to attend.
A diplomatic source in Damascus said that Jordan and Morocco would also be represented by lower-level delegations.
The United States, which also backs Seniora, called last week for Arab countries to reflect before deciding to participate in the summit, also accusing Damascus of paralyzing Lebanese politics.
London-based pan-Arab newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat on Wednesday quoted Syrian Vice President Farouq Al-Sharra as saying that countries that do not attend the summit will regret it, without elaborating.
Oil powerhouse Saudi Arabia, a major supporter of the Lebanese government, has decided to send its ambassador to the Arab League to the weekend s summit.
Analysts predicted a weak turnout and few results by the end of the summit. No one expects much from this summit, Mohamed Sayed Said, editor-in-chief of the independent daily Al-Badeel told AFP, anticipating little more than a broad final statement calling for Lebanon s national unity or some such.
State-owned daily Al-Ahram said in an editorial on Sunday that the Lebanese crisis seems to have polarized member states.
This summit will be one that confirms Arab differences instead of being a summit of Arab unity in these times.
But earlier this week Aboul Gheit refused to acknowledge the existence of different camps within the Arab League.
You can t say that. Arabs must represent only one axis, Aboul Gheit told the Wighet Nazar television program, while acknowledging that the Egyptian, Saudi and Jordanian views often meet.
But he said there would be weak participation if the Lebanese crisis was not resolved.
