Arab foreign ministers or their reps started a two-day meeting at the Arab League HQ in Cairo on Saturday to prepare for an upcoming Arab summit slated for March 28-29 in the Sudanese capital Khartoum. Full article (China Broadcast) 4 Mar 2006.
Note how low on their agenda is Darfur.
Libya has seen attempts by the Arab League and the AU to solve the crisis in Darfur fail in the past. Multi-party conferences took place in 2004 and 2005. In 2005, for example, the summit participants included the Egyptian President, the Libyan leader, the Nigerian President (also the AU chairman), the Sudanese President, the Eritrean President, and the Chadian President. Also attending was the Arab League Secretary General and representatives from a number of regional organizations. However two main Darfur rebel groups, the Sudan Liberation Movement and the Justice and Equality Movement, chose to stay away.
ReplyDelete"Leaders from Egypt, Libya, Sudan, Nigeria and Chad voiced opposition to foreign interference in Darfur, stressing the issue should be solved within the AU framework."