The Arab League a 22-member organization, initially founded in 1945, held its 32nd summit on May 19 at Jeddah, the coastal city of Saudi Arabia. However, during the preceding five days, a series of meetings attended by relevant ministers and bureaucrats of member states were held to lay a base for the upcoming congregation. Needless to say that Foreign Minister’s conference was the most important at the beginning of which the rotating presidency of the League was handed-over to KSA by Algeria. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan underscored the need for unity among the Arab states in order to overcome the ‘mutual challenges’. Nonetheless, the speech of the Algerian Foreign Minister Ahmad Attaf made the headlines wherein he warned that ‘global transformations will alter the balance of power and this requires Arab countries to come together to move forward as these changes unfold’. The Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Aboul Gheit appreciated the Turkish and Iranian rapprochement with their Arab neighbors but cautioned them to terminate interference in purely Arab affairs. Most of the delegates acknowledged Saudi policy-modification particularly on three accounts: (i) willingness to bring back Syria into the Arab fold (ii) settlement of Kingdom’s rift with Iran, and (III) efforts to secure peace in Yemen. The participants were cautious of the fact that the Summit was being held amid several political developments taking place in the Arab world: spiraling Sudanese crises with ever-increasing causalities and displacements; aggravating Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and; Syria’s readmission to Arab League. The conference decided that the ‘Arab Development Summit’ at Saudi Arabia and the ‘Arab- African Summit’ at Mauritania will be held later this year however the dates will be finalized afterwards. The forum also refined the draft of ‘Arab Action Plan-2023’ which entails regional priorities and the strategy to address them. It will be discussed and approved at the Summit level in due course. The huge diplomatic activity at Jeddah manifested that the Saudi Kingdom has geared itself up for its year-long Arab League presidency.
The key-note of Arab summit was obviously Syria’s re-entry into it fold. President Bashar-al-Assad’s participation, after a gape of almost 13 years, was ‘a development championed by host Saudi Arabia and fellow Gulf power: the United Arab Emirates despite reservations from certain Arab leaders’. According to AFP, it was ‘the latest in the series of high-profile diplomatic twists reshaping the region in recent months’. It needs to be refreshed that Syria’s membership had been frozen in November2011 after Bashar-al-Assad’s merciless crack-down on a mass-scale agitation against him leading to a civil war which resulted in .5 million mortalities and approximately 10 million displacements. The critics of rapprochement with Syria stressed repeatedly to get at-least main issues sorted-out, as a pre-condition. The misery of millions of refugees living in Turkiye, Jordan and Lebanon must come to an end. Syria, which has turned into a narco-state with a $10 billion captagon industry (mostly trafficked to the Gulf) should initiate measures against them. The proxy militant’s presence should also be culminated. Among the opponents of Syria’s re-admission, Qatar was a front-liner, however when KSA pressed its point of view, Doha budged. The West, particularly the USA, was also not pleased with this policy-shift and categorically declared that ‘it did not believe that Syria merits re-admission to the Arab League’. According to ‘Reuters’ dated May 20, the indicated reaction was natural because they thought that KSA and its bandwagons had invited ‘a leader who drew-on support from Shi’ite Iran and Russia to beat-back his foes in the civil war’. Some analysts have pointed-out that Saudi support for Syrian return into Arab League could hamper Riyadh’s efforts to harmonize Turkiye which is a key supporter of Bashar-al- Assad’s armed opposition groups. While speaking on the occasion, President Bashar-al Assad cautioned the Arab leadership regarding the ‘danger of expansionist Ottoman thought’: a direct reference towards Turkiye. After getting-back into its own ‘community’ Damascus is hopeful of obtaining much-needed financial assistance from the oil-rich Gulf monarchies for the rehabilitation of Syria devastated by civil war and western sanctions. Syria’s re-admission has opened further avenues which, if used properly, can improve its standing in the comity of nations. The UAE government has invited Syria to attend the UN Climate Summit called COP28 to be held in Dubai later this year. In this conference, President Bashar-al- Assad will be able to rub shoulders with Western leaders who have otherwise imposed sanctions on his country.
The arrival of President Volodymyr Zelenski in the Summit on May 19 added an element of thrill in it. Through this visit on the invitation of Riyadh, Zelenski got an opportunity to address the Arab leaders who ‘has been far less united in their support to Kyiv than staunch western allies’. According to ‘The New York Times’ dated May 20, Zelenski urged the Arab leaders: Not to’ turn a blind eye’ to Russian aggression. Ukrainian President mentioned of 10-point peace-plan prepared by him to be submitted before each of the participant. The Gulf States have been more or less neutral during the Ukraine conflict despite western pressure on the oil-producing states to help isolate Russia, a fellow OPEC member. The USA had last year conveyed displeasure to KSA on OPEC’s decision to reduce oil production, seen as supporting Russia monetarily by sky-rocketing prices. The conference demonstrated Saudi eagerness to ‘exercise sway on the global stage’ when MBS offered to mediate between Moscow and Kyiv in presence of Zelenski. The erstwhile diplomatic activity of the Saudi Crown Prince, on this front, had yielded some positive results.
The Arab League Summit concluded in late hours of May 19 by adopting the ‘Jeddah Declaration’ which calls for ‘Arab unity to solve regional issues’. As per BERNAMA .com the document (i) affirmed that the Palestinian cause remains the Arab’s pivotal concern; (ii) expressed hope that Syria’s re-admission into the Arab League will facilitate end of its on-going civil war; and (iii) called on the Sudanese conflicting groups to settle their differences through dialogue. As a whole the conference proved to be successful as all the leaders resolved to co-operate in order to sort-out all the Arab world’s inter-nation disputes. A well-known Kuwaiti figure Jawad Ahmad Bukhamseen observed in Jeddah-located newspaper ‘OKAZ’ that MBS through his concerted efforts has emerged as a ‘peace-maker and the icon of harmony; calling for an end to differences and the elimination of conflicts’. Daily ‘Al-Riyadh’ declared this conference as ‘the Summit of all Summits’.
The last word: The Arab world has practically showcased its resolve to amicably settle-down their inter-state differences. The South Asian leadership may follow their footprints for the socio-economic uplift of region’s population.
E-Paper link: https://minutemirror.com.pk/story/?text=2023/05/Page-5_09-15
