| Africa North |
| Egypt military ruler in talks with ElBaradei, Mussa |
| 2011-11-28 |
[Daily Nation (Kenya)]  Egypt's military ruler on Saturday held separate talks with presidential hopefuls Mohamed ElBaradei and Amr Mussa, the official MENA news agency said. Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi met with both men, whose names had been touted by protesters camped out in Cairo's Tahrir Square demanding the end of military rule, as part of a national salvation government. |
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| Africa North |
| International groups meet on Libya, urge solution |
| 2011-06-19 |
| International organisations on Saturday called for a political process to end the conflict in Libya, where the government hit out at NATO's air war. The Libyan regime headed by Moamer Kadhafi also dismissed rebel denials that the two sides have held talks. Just after midnight on Sunday (2200 GMT Saturday) a loud explosion was heard in the Libyan capital. Authorities took journalists to Tripoli's residential district of Arada where they were shown two bodies, said to have been victims of a NATO bombing raid. The reporters also saw four damaged houses. World organisations including the United Nations, European Union and Arab League met in Cairo to discuss Libya and stressed the need for a political solution there. They issued a statement in Arabic underlining the importance of "accelerating the launch of a political process that responds to the legitimate aspirations of the Libyan people." EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton attended the meeting along with outgoing Arab League chief Amr Mussa and African Union head Jean Ping, while UN chief Ban Ki-moon joined by live video link. "Today it's been about how do we make sure that in the work we do that we offer the sort of support that will enable the Libyan people to choose the future that they want," Ashton told reporters. Ban Ki-moon meanwhile said that the roots of a negotiating process are showing in the Libya conflict. Following talks with top officials from the European Union, African Union and other groups, Ban stressed the need for the international community to give a "consistent message" on a political solution with Kadhafi but indicated the signs of progress. |
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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Hamas official: Party will accept Abbas initiative to end division |
| 2011-03-31 |
| [Ma'an] Hamas head of the Palestinian legislature Aziz Dweik ...Dweik has been associated with The Mohammedan Brotherhood and Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, since as early as 1992.... said Tuesday that the party would respond positively to President Mahmoud Abbas' initiative to visit Gaza and end the national division. Dweik told Ma'an Radio that Abbas' proposed visit would be a practical step toward resolving the split between the Hamas-run government in the Gaza Strip and the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. Dweik headed a delegation of Hamas leaders who held landmark talks with Abbas in Ramallah on Saturday, the president's first meeting with Hamas in over two years. In the midst of mass youth protests demanding an end to the national division, Gaza premier Ismail Haniyeh invited Abbas to Gaza for emergency talks. The president accepted the invitation on March 16, but said he would go to the coastal enclave to make a unity deal, not to discuss one. He proposed forming a unity government to prepare for presidential, legislative and Palestinian National Council elections within six months. Fatah officials said a date would be set for Abbas' visit once Hamas accepted the initiative. Dweik said he expected Hamas officials to respond positively within the next week. In Cairo, Hamas leader Mahmud Zahar said the party would hold another meeting in Gaza "in the coming two days" with Fatah members. Zahar's comments were made after a meeting with Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa, who said the league was willing to host Palestinian unity meetings. "There is no justification whatsoever for the continued Palestinian division," Mussa said, stressing the need to "unify Palestinian ranks ahead the current challenges." Israel slams initiative Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned the PA not to reconcile with Hamas, saying it would prohibit peace with Israel. "We hear in recent days that the Palestinian Authority is thinking of uniting with Hamas," Netanyahu told Jewish fundraisers in a speech distributed on Tuesday by the Israeli Government Press Office. "It's thinking of effecting peace, not with Israel, but with Hamas," he said. "Well, I say to them something very simple: you can't have peace with Israel and Hamas. It's one or the other, but not both." Fatah and Hamas split in 2007 when the Islamist movement kicked its secular rivals out of Gaza amid clashes which neared civil war. Since then, Gaza has been effectively cut off from the West Bank, which is under the control of Fatah, and repeated attempts at reconciliation have led nowhere. The split has badly damaged Palestinian efforts to end Israel's illegal military occupation. A growing Palestinian youth movement is demanding national unity, and elections for the Palestinian National Council. Abbas' proposed visit was immediately welcomed by UN envoy Robert Serry, who noted that unity was "overdue and vital for Palestinian legitimate aspirations." |
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| International-UN-NGOs |
| Jerry out at Arab League, has goo goo eyes for Egypt |
| 2011-02-12 |
 CAIRO (Ma'an) -- Arab League chief Amr Mussa announced he would resign in coming weeks, hours after Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak quit his presidency, the Cairo-based Middle East News Agency reported.Mussa told Egyptian State TV he would quit without elaborating on his plans. Oh, you know. Spend time with the family, work on the hobbies, explore future endeavours... Following Mubarak's ouster, Mussa hailed fellow Egyptians and the army for their "historic achievement." The Egyptian official had joined anti-government protests in Tahrir Square. That's right, folks! I never really liked Hosni. I just worked for him and did what he told me... His term as head of the 22-member league was due to end in two months, and the charismatic leader has hinted he might run for presidency. Charismatic? Probably means he can order off a menu in ten different languages. At once... I'm not sure I could stand a charisma contest between Mousa and ElBaradei... Earlier in February, Mousa told CNN he would be "ready for any role requested" so he could "turn his ideas, which most Egyptians support" into deeds. Tan...rested...ready. Mussa, 74, a former foreign minister, is a dynamic figure with a quick sense of humor and charisma that often eclipsed that of his former boss Mubarak. His popularity stems from his strong stands against Israel and language that appeals to the Arab street. Always impeccably dressed, Mussa excelled as Egypt's foreign minister for a decade between 1991 and 2001. Other than the fact that he's never accomplished a friggin thing, he sounds perfect... "If he were to run for president one day, in a free vote, he would be a sure-fire winner," said one of the diplomats in Cairo where the Arab League has its base. Potato Head vs. Jerry Lewis! Liiiiiiiive on Pay Per View! In a much-recalled sign of his status at home, Mussa made a triumphant entry to Cairo football stadium in 2006 where he was loudly applauded by some 100,000 Egyptian fans at the final of the African Nations Cup. I must say, an impressive tongue bath by Ma'an... |
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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan | |
| Israel must extend settlement freeze: Arab League | |
| 2010-09-25 | |
[Dawn] Israel must send a message that it is prepared to extend a freeze on settlements if the peace negotiations with the Paleostinians are to continue, Arab League chief and Jerry Lewis look-alike Amr Moussa said Friday.
Such settlements would "affect the territorial integrity of territories that would be the territories of the new state of Paleostine," he added. He insisted Israel must show it is "stopping building settlements" adding that "continuing or prolonging or extending the moratorium is a must and is a symbolic message that the Israeli policy is serious about this." Israel on Friday raised the possibility of a compromise on settlement construction just ahead of when the freeze is supposed to end, threatening to derail newly-won US-backed Middle East peace talks. "Israel is prepared to reach a compromise acceptable to all parties," a senior Israeli government official said when asked about US President Barack B.O.Obama's call for the 10-month moratorium to be extended. Mussa urged caution, saying: "Let us wait and see what happens in the next couple of days. If they continue eroding the territorial integrity of the Paleostinian land, if they continue changing the democratic composition of the territories, if they continue changing the geographical character of the territories, why are we wasting time?" he asked. The US administration said Thursday it was proposing "ideas" to Israeli and Paleostinian negotiators in a bid to break the stalemate over settlements. The B.O. regime played a key role in getting the two sides back to the negotiating table on September 2 after a 20-month pause in the peace talks. | |
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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Arabs call for guarantees for direct Mideast talks |
| 2010-07-19 |
| [Al Arabiya Latest] Arab League chief Amr Mussa said on Sunday that Palestinians could not move to from indirect to direct talks with Israel without written guarantees. "We cannot automatically move from one negotiation to another without written guarantees," said Mussa, whose 22-member pan-Arab organization backed indirect talks between Israel and Palestinians in May. He made his comments after meeting US Middle East envoy George Mitchell and after Mitchell, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held separate talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Mussa, who met with Abbas on Saturday, said he thought the Palestinian leader was committed to Arab League conditions for resuming direct talks, which include an end to settlement building in occupied Palestinian lands. "I felt the Palestinian president was committed to the decisions of the ministerial council that the automatic transition from indirect to direct negotiations is not feasible," he said. The Arab League first backed the talks in March but then endorsed the Palestinians' refusal to go ahead with them after Israel announced plans to build more Jewish homes in mainly Arab east Jerusalem. It supported them again a month later after the Palestinians said they had received unspecified assurances from the United States. The Palestinians want east Jerusalem, annexed by Israel in 1967, for the capital of their promised state. |
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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan | |
| US assures Palestinians on Jerusalem settlement | |
| 2010-05-03 | |
CAIRO - The key guarantee given by Washington to the Palestinians to persuade them to enter indirect talks with Israel was a halt to a controversial plan to build 1,600 new settler homes in east Jerusalem, a top official said on Sunday.
'We made a decision on March 2 to support the indirect talks, and then Israel made decisions we objected to. The Americans came back to us and said this will not happen,' Hisham Yusef, chief of staff for Arab League chief Amr Mussa, said. 'The assurances take us back to the status quo ante before March 2.' He did not say whether the assurance covered only the period of the indirect talks and whether the United States had made further guarantees. Mussa on Sunday told reporters: 'Our understanding in light of discussions is that the decision to build 1,600 units has been halted.' The Palestinians and the Arab League first agreed to indirect talks in March but broke them off when Israel said it would build 1,600 homes in an east Jerusalem neighbourhood named Ramat Shlomo. On Saturday, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat told reporters in Cairo the talks would be suspended if Israel built any homes there. Abdullah Al Efranji, a foreign ministry official with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah party, told Egyptian television on Monday Washington had assured them it would not tolerate settlement construction in east Jerusalem. 'There was a confirmation from the US side in the last meeting between (US envoy George) Mitchell and president Abbas that the US side wants indirect talks as soon as possible and it will not be lax this time with whoever takes provocative steps,' he said. Mitchell 'explained what the provocative actions were, they were building settlements in east Jerusalem,' Efranji said. In Jerusalem on Sunday, however, an Israeli cabinet minister insisted the Jewish state would continue building settler homes. 'We shall not build just one house in Ramat Shlomo, we shall build many houses,' hardline Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau said. | |
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| Iraq |
| Qadaffy meets with Iraqi Baathists |
| 2010-03-26 |
| On Wednesday, Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh condemned Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi's Sunday meeting with 29 Saddam loyalists, describing the move as "undiplomatic" and an "insult" to the people of Iraq. Iraq's post-Saddam governments are particularly sensitive to any contacts between foreign governments and Saddam loyalists. It views such meetings as an attempt to undermine their legitimacy and casting doubt on the right of the country's Shiite Muslim majority to be the country's most dominant political group. The head of the 22-member pan-Arab organization Amr Mussa met privately with Zebari over breakfast on Thursday to try to contain the diplomatic spat between Libya and Iraq, and convince the Iraqi foreign minister to remain for the summit. Several Arab foreign ministers also tried to persuade Iraq's top diplomat to stay but were told by Zebari that he had no choice but to return home, the diplomat added. Libya's JANA official news agency said that Gaddafi received on Sunday a high-ranking delegation of Iraqi opposition leaders, including former members of the outlawed Baath party of executed dictator Saddam Hussein. The Iraqi delegation included former oil minister Issam Shalabi as well as ex-Baathist Salah Omar al-Ali. |
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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Abbas urges Arabs to act over Israeli settlements |
| 2010-03-10 |
| RAMALLAH, West Bank - Yeah, get some Arab unity going, that'll stop the Israelis ... Abbas called by telephone the (secretary general) of the Arab League, Amr Mussa, asking him to urgently make the necessary contacts to discuss the 1,600 homes that Israel decided to build,' the Palestinian presidency said in a statement. This decision comes after the announcement of the start of construction of 112 homes in Beitar Illit settlement,' in the occupied West Bank, said the statement. Abbas and Mussa discussed the urgent policy measures appropriate to address the escalating Israeli provocations,' it added. Earlier, Palestinian Authority spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina said the plans to build new settler homes would hinder' US-led indirect peace talks. This is a dangerous decision and will hinder the negotiations,' he told AFP. We consider the decision to build in east Jerusalem to be a judgment that the American efforts have failed before the indirect negotiations have even begun,' he added. |
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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan | ||
| Jordan urges unified Arab stand on peace | ||
| 2009-04-12 | ||
 AMMAN - Jordan's King Abdullah II on Saturday told Arab foreign ministers that a unified position on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process is key to a solution in the Middle East.
Foreign ministers from Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, as well as Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa, met earlier in Amman to voice support for peace based on a two-state solution. "Our objective is to have direct peace negotiations, establish an independent Palestinian state and resolve all regional conflicts to create stability," Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh told reporters afterwards. "The meeting aims to reaffirm the Arab world's commitment to the Arab peace initiative, the option of peace and the solution of two states, Palestine and Israel."
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| Africa Horn | |
| Arab League to send team to UN to protest Beshir warrant | |
| 2009-03-05 | |
| CAIRO - The Arab League said on Wednesday it would send a delegation with the African Union to the United Nations to try to suspend the international arrest warrant against Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir. The two bodies will send a high ranking joint Arab and African delegation to the UN Security Council to delay the proceedings of the International Criminal Court, a statement from the pan-Arab body said. The Arab League said it was greatly disturbed by the ICC decision to seek the arrest of Beshir on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity over the six-year conflict in Darfur.
This is a grave development, he said, adding that the Arab League supported Sudans sovereignty and immunity for heads of state. Egypt has also called on the Security Council to hold an emergency meeting to delay the warrant. | |
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| International-UN-NGOs |
| Turkish PM storms out of Gaza debate |
| 2009-01-29 |
| TURKISH Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan today stormed out of an angry debate at the Davos forum on the Gaza war with Israel's President Shimon Peres. "I do not think I will be coming back to Davos after this because you do not let me speak," the Islamist-rooted prime minister shouted before marching off the stage in front of Mr Peres, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and an elite audience of ministers and international officials at the World Economic Forum. Mr Erdogan criticized the audience for applauding Mr Peres' emotional defense of Israel's war in Gaza, before the moderator, Washington Post journalist David Ignatius, insisted that the debate had gone over time. He said Israel had carried out "barbarian" actions in Gaza. Mr Peres had told the audience that Israel had been forced into the offensive against Hamas by thousands of rockets and mortars fired into Israel. "The tragedy of Gaza is not Israel, it is Hamas," said Mr Peres. "They created a dictatorship. A very dangerous one." Mr Ban, Mr Erdogan, and Arab League secretary general Amr Mussa and Peres all gave long impassioned statements on the conflict which left more than 1300 Palestinians dead and widespread destruction in Gaza. |
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