Iraq plans to nominate candidate to head Arab League

By Habib Toumi, Bureau Chief
April 30, 2011

Iraq is considering nominating an Iraqi candidate for the post of Arab League secretary general.

Manama: Baghdad is mulling the nomination of an Iraqi candidate for the position of Arab League secretary general, a lawmaker has said.

Two weeks before the Arab states choose a new secretary general to replace Amr Moussa who is leaving to contest in the presidential elections in Egypt later this year, only Qatari Abdul Rahman Al Atiyyah and Egyptian Mustafa Al Fiqi have submitted their candidacies.

"We have floated the idea of selecting an Iraqi personality to head the Arab League," Rafaa Abdul Jabbar Nooshi, member of the parliament's foreign affairs committee, said. "Iraq has a number of competent personalities who can manage the Arab League," he said, quoted by Qatar News Agency. The MP did not, however, mention any names.

Iraqi political formations have nominated Eyad Allawi to replace Amr Moussa when he steps down next month.

British-educated neurologist Allawi, 66, left Iraq after turning against Saddam Hussain in the 1970s, but became interim prime minister in 2004. Last year, his bloc won the most votes in Iraq's general elections.

Al Atiyyah was the secretary general of the Gulf Cooperation Council and left it in March at the end of his third term.

Mustafa Al Fiqi is a former presidential aide.

Source: Gulf News.
Link: http://gulfnews.com/news/region/iraq/iraq-plans-to-nominate-candidate-to-head-arab-league-1.801351.