The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Arab League

  • Arab League postpones talks on regional military

    Arab League postpones talks on regional military

    A meeting of Arab defence chiefs and foreign ministers on forming a joint regional military force has been postponed for the second time in two months, the Arab League said Wednesday.

    The talks, scheduled for Thursday, were postponed on requests from Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Kuwait, Iraq, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, the Cairo-based League said in a statement.

    The pan-Arab organisation did not give a reason for the delay, saying that a new date for the meeting will be set later.

    The countries were meant to endorse an agreement on creating a military force that would tackle the growing influence of hard line jihadists in the region.

    Arab defence chiefs had met twice in May and June to draft the mechanism for setting up the joint force, which was initially approved at an Arab summit held in Egypt earlier in 2015.

    In late March, Saudi Arabia and Sunni fellow Arab countries unleashed an air campaign in Yemen targeting Shiite Houthi rebels allied with Shiite Iran.

    In 1950, members of the Arab League signed a joint defence agreement, which has been rarely enforced.

  • Arab League meets over Islamic State attacks

    Arab League meets over Islamic State attacks

    The Cairo-based Arab League (AL) on Tuesday held an emergency meeting on Islamic State (IS) crimes in Libya, local media reports have said.

    The report quoted Bishr Khasawneh, Jordan’s Permanent Representative to AL as saying the meeting was held under the request of Libya who demanded air strikes by Arab states to confront IS attacks in Libya.

    He said the request if granted, would be executed under the framework of the Joint Defense and Economic Cooperation of the League of Arab States.

    Violent clashes were reported last week between IS militants and local fighters over control of the city of Sirte.

    The IS-linked group has beheaded 12 people and crucified their bodies during the clashes.
    The Libyan government condemned the `massacre’ in the Sirte, the majority of which fell into the militants’ control at the end of May.

    Libya has been in turmoil since the fall and killing of its former leader, Muammar Gaddafi, in 2011.

  • Kerry in Egypt for IS talks

    Kerry in Egypt for IS talks

    The United States Secretary of State, John Kerry, has arrived in Egypt amid U.S attempts to form a broad coalition to tackle Islamic State (IS) militants.

    Mr. Kerry will meet Arab League chief, Nabil al-Arabi, in Cairo on the latest leg of his Middle East tour.

    He has enlisted the support of 10 Arab states so far, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar, but on Friday he ruled out Iran joining the U.S-led coalition.

    On Friday, the CIA said IS has as many as 30,000 fighters in Syria and Iraq.

    IS controls large parts of both countries and its fighters have become notorious for their brutality, but in recent weeks they have been targeted by US air strikes, the BBC reports.

    On Wednesday, President Barack Obama unveiled plans for an expansion of the U.S campaign against IS.

    He vowed to “hunt down terrorists who threaten our country, wherever they are.”

    The 10 Arab countries that have signed up to the coalition are – Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.

    Later on Saturday, Mr. Kerry will meet with Mr. Arabi, the Secretary General of the Arab League, to discuss how the coalition will act against IS.

    Mr. Kerry says military and intelligence experts will spend the coming days working out how each state will contribute.

    But speaking in Turkey on Friday, he said it would be “inappropriate” for Iran to join the group because of its “engagement in Syria and elsewhere.”

  • Russia, Arab League propose direct Syria talks

    Russia and the Arab League said they want to broker direct talks between the Syrian government and opposition in a bid to end the country’s civil war.

    Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said violence was “a road to nowhere.”

    The move comes as the opposition Syrian National Coalition is due to begin a two-day meeting in Egypt to discuss a framework for a possible solution.

    Some 70,000 people have died since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began in March 2011, the United Nations says.

    The BBC reports that although the Syrian government and the opposition are talking about dialogue, that still seems a distant prospect.

    Mr. Lavrov said the Kremlin and the Arab League wanted to establish direct contact between the Syrian government and the opposition.

    Speaking in Moscow, where he hosted league officials and several Arab foreign ministers, the Russian foreign minister said that sitting down at a negotiating table was the only way to end the conflict without irreparable damage to Syria.