Where can new Arab League chief lead Arab course?

By Marwa Yahia

CAIRO, May 16 (Xinhua) -- The newly-elected Secretary General of the Arab League (AL) Nabil el-Arabi is likely to start his mission at the beginning of July amid political turmoil in the Arab world without signs of calming down.

As the Egyptian Foreign Minister, el-Arabi, 76, was unanimously chosen on Sunday as the new chief of the pan-Arab organization to replace Amr Moussa.

Local observers believed that overcoming the crises of the Arab countries and reaching an Arab integration among highly sensitive situation are the most difficult challenges facing the new AL chief.

According to Ahmed Elwi, a professor of political science in Cairo University, el-Arabi is characterized by rich diplomatic experience to face challenges.

"His diplomatic wisdom was recognized apparently during his recent visit to Ethiopia to solve the problem of the Nile basin," he added.

"The first task for the new chief is to evaluate the Arab situation in light of Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Syria and Yemen," said Nabil Zaki, a political expert and chief of Arab affairs committee of Egypt's Tagammu Party.

"The current stage requires an AL chief with highly political skills. The situation is very complicated on supporting the governments or the inflamed rebels," Zaki added.

The new chief will face difficulties in unifying the Arab stands towards massive political movements. To tackle such difficulties, the coming secretary general should exert more effort to gain more independency for AL from Arab governments, Zaki said.

END OF MOUSSA ERA

The AL witnessed a lot of achievements by former chief Amr Moussa in the past decade. Hany Khalaf, former Egyptian deputy in the Arab league, said the general secretariat had it's own initiatives under Moussa's leadership.

"A lot of new aspects such as the civil society and commercial activities were concluded in AL agenda in Moussa's effort," Khalaf said, adding that Moussa has established forums between Arab and other international powers.

However, many political analysts also criticized that Moussa's era also witnessed negative impact on the Middle East peace process.

AL should play prominent role in the Palestinian cause but it didn't achieve anything tangible, said Zaki, stressing the Arab countries were divided over the Palestinian issue.

Khalaf said AL wasn't negative concerning Libya and it called for international interference, which was a big mistake in Moussa era.

"Moussa gave the chance for foreign countries to interfere under AL legitimacy," he added, criticizing the suspension of Libyan participation in the AL.

"There is no Libyan representative in the Arab league and that is a disaster, how can we just get the information from the news agencies not from legitimate Libyan source," he added.

Saed al-Lawendi, expert of international relation at al-Ahram center for political and strategic studies, considered the performance of AL in Moussa time was zero and all the Arab courtiers weren't unified.

ARAB UNITY IN NEED

Al-Lawendi added that the new chief should seek the Arab unity since no political or economic coherence is among Arab countries. He said the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is more effective than the AL comparing their influence. "The Arab should move on the path of the European Union when they started with iron and coal projects," said Khalaf, referring repeated calls for more roles of Arab parliament and Arab peace- keeping forces. He suggested that Arab countries could start developing the common Arab framework by establishing highway networks, joint scientific research projects and projects to reduce the unemployment rates. Officially established in 1945, the 22-member pan-Arab body has been led by Egyptians except for the period from 1979 to 1990, when its headquarters was moved to Tunisia from Cairo due to the peace treaty signed between Egypt and Israel.

Source: Xinhua.
Link: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-05/17/c_13877809.htm.