Arab League foreign ministers face tough task

CAIRO, Jan 24: Trying to forge a unified position on Iraq and its demand that UN sanctions linked to the Gulf War be lifted was the tough task facing Arab League foreign ministers as they met Sunday, reports AP.

In advance of the session here, the League's secretary-general, Esmat Abdel-Meguid, held a series of closed-door sessions Saturday with visiting ministers to try to draft a document that would spell out member nations' policy toward Iraq.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf repeated Iraq's position Saturday that the Arab governments should back Baghdad's demand for a complete lifting of the UN sanctions.

The sanctions, which limit the sale of oil, were imposed after Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait, which sparked the 1991 Gulf War.

Al-Sahhaf also said Iraq wants the Arabs to condemn last month's US and British airstrikes and support Iraq's claim for compensation.

American and British forces launched missile and rocket attacks on Iraq from Dec. 16 to Dec. 19 to punish the Baghdad regime for failing to cooperate with UN weapons inspectors.

The inspectors must certify that Iraq has eliminated its weapons of mass destruction, as called for in Gulf War cease-fire resolutions, before the UN Security Council will lift the sanctions.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa said Saturday that the Arab ministers would not meet Iraq's demand to defy the sanctions, saying "there must be international agreement, not just Arab agreement, concerning the Iraqi issue."

Arab diplomats said a draft statement circulated among the delegations proposed that the Arab ministers reiterate their sympathy for the plight of Iraq's 22 million people. But it refrains from expressing any support for the regime of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, they said. The diplomats spoke on condition of anonymity.

The statement also will urge Iraq to comply fully with all UN resolutions stemming the Gulf War, including the monitoring of its weapons of mass destruction.

Ahmed Ben Heli, deputy secretary-general of the league, acknowledged that the ministers will have tough discussions Sunday.

"This is a big and complicated issue which needs a lot of effort," he told Abu Dhabi Television late Saturday.

The Gulf countries were expected to present a paper calling on Iraq to reiterate its acceptance in 1994 of a UN demarcation of the border with Kuwait. Iraq last week appeared to challenge the agreement.