Arab League postpones summit in Iraq amid Middle East unrest

By on April 21, 2011
arab-leagueAn Arab League summit planned in Baghdad next month was postponed again Wednesday as political unrest continues to roil the Middle East
The delay was not unexpected, but it prompted anger from Iraqi leaders, who had argued that the summit could give Arab countries an important first chance to discuss the changes taking places across the region.
Iraq lawmakers said the summit’s second postponement also indicated that neighboring Arab leaders intend never to gather in Baghdad.

The league has not met in Iraq since 1990, and the country has spent months and hundreds of millions of dollars refurbishing one of Saddam Hussein’s former palaces in the Green Zone and other buildings to host the summit conference — even as most areas of the capital remain without electricity for 20 hours or more a day.
An aide to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said that representatives of the Arab League would meet May 15 to choose a new date for the conference. It was not clear whether Baghdad would remain the venue.
The deputy secretary general of the 22-member organization said that the unrest in the Arab world, not the security situation in Baghdad, was behind the delay.
Several experts have speculated that Arab leaders might not be willing to leave their countries for months for fear their absence could encourage protesters.

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