CAIRO: A two-day Arab summit held in Doha today will neither be attended by President Hosni Mubarak nor Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit, indicating fraught relations between Egypt and Qatar.
The Egyptian delegation will be headed by Minister for Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Mufid Shehab and Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki.
Relations between Egypt and Qatar have been tense since the Israeli offensive on Gaza last December, when both countries took opposing sides in their reaction to the crisis. The Egyptian government was also angered by criticism aired by Qatari news channel Al Jazeera over its refusal to open the Rafah border crossing.
Zaki told reporters in Doha, “Arab reconciliation cannot be done overnight, it’s progressing, but more time is needed . Iran is an important subject, in view of the role it has in a number of Arab issues.
Egypt has stated that it believes now that Qatar has become aligned with Iran and Syria in its positions on Arab issues. A mini-Arab summit held by Saudi Arabia brought Egypt and Qatar together but has not proven enough for Egypt to send a high-level delegation to Doha.
Another issue slated to take center stage during the summit is the ICC arrest warrant against Sudanese President Omar Al-Beshir for alleged war crimes in Darfur. Al-Beshir was invited to the Doha summit and arrived amid much fanfare where he received red carpet welcome by the Qatari Amir.
The Arab League has come out in defense of Al-Beshir who held talks with Mubarak in Cairo last Wednesday in defiance of the ICC which has urged members of the UN Security Council to implement the arrest on their soil.
“By declaring that President Al-Beshir has immunity from the arrest warrant for war crimes and crimes against humanity, the League has undermined international law which provides no such immunity for anyone, even a serving head of state, for such grave crimes, said Irene Khan, Amnesty International’s Secretary General.
“The League was right to demand international justice for war crimes and other serious violations of international law committed during the recent conflict in Gaza. They should apply a similar standard to crimes committed in Sudan, Khan said.
