Egypt joins Jordan, Morocco in snubbing Arab summit

Egypt will send only a low-level delegation to this week's Arab League summit in Damascus, state media reported on Wednesday, the latest snub to Syria which is widely blamed for Lebanon's political crisis.

Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit told the official MENA news agency that he would not attend the summit due to be held in Damascus on Saturday and Sunday but instead send State Minister for Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Mufid Shehab.

The delegation's downgrading reflects tensions with Syria over differences on how to deal with the political crisis in Lebanon, whose continuation Egypt and fellow regional heavyweight Saudi Arabia, as well as Lebanon itself, blame on Damascus.

Lebanon on Tuesday said it would not take part in the Arab summit because of what is said was Syria's negative role in the country's protracted crisis that has left it without a president for months.

Syria, which held sway in Lebanese affairs for decades before it was forced to withdraw its troops from the country in 2005, has been accused of standing in the way of the election of a new president.

Both Egypt and Saudi Arabia, which backs the government of pro-Western Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora, had already announced that their leaders would boycott the summit, although Abul Gheit had been expected to attend.

A diplomatic source in Damascus said that Jordan and Morocco would also be represented by lower-level delegations.

The United States, which also backs Siniora, called last week for Arab countries to reflect before deciding to participate in the summit, also accusing Damascus of paralysing Lebanese politics.

London-based pan-Arab newspaper Asharq al-Awsat on Wednesday quoted Syrian Vice President Faruq Al-Shara as saying that "countries that do not attend the summit will regret it," without elaborating.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said Lebanon was "missing out on a golden opportunity to discuss the state of Syrian-Lebanese relations."

"Lebanon has lost a golden opportunity to discuss the crisis and strengthen the Arab initiative for solution," Muallem told reporters in Damascus.

Lebanon is in the grip of a standoff between the government and the Hezbollah-led opposition that has left it without a president since November, when pro-Syrian Emile Lahoud stepped down at the end of his mandate.

Oil powerhouse Saudi Arabia, a major supporter of the Lebanese government, has decided to send its ambassador to the Arab League to the weekend's summit.

The Lebanese crisis, the worst since the end of the country's 1975-1990 civil war, is widely seen as an extension of the conflict pitting the United States and its regional allies against Syria and Iran.

On Monday, a 17th session of parliament to elect a successor to Lahoud was postponed. A new session has been set for April 22.

Analysts predicted a weak turnout and few results by the end of the summit.

"No one expects much from this summit," Mohammed Sayed Said, editor in chief of Egyptian daily Al-Badeel told AFP, anticipating little more than a broad final statement calling for "Lebanon's national unity or some such."

Egypt's state-owned daily Al-Ahram said in an editorial on Sunday that the Lebanese crisis seems to have polarised member states.

"This summit will be one that confirms Arab differences instead of being a summit of Arab unity in these times."

But earlier this week Abul Gheit refused to acknowledge the existence of different camps within the Arab League.

"You can't say that. Arabs must represent only one axis," Abul Gheit told the Wighet Nazar television programme, while acknowledging that "the Egyptian, Saudi and Jordanian views often meet."

But he said there would be "weak participation" if the Lebanese crisis was not resolved.

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