Egypt

Arab League postpones Baghdad summit under pressure from Gulf

An Arab summit scheduled for May in Baghdad has been postponed indefinitely, the Arab League announced Wednesday.

The new date will be determined during an urgent meeting of Arab foreign ministers on 15 May, said Ahmed Ben Helli, the Arab League assistant secretary general.

Ben Helli said the league decided to postpone the summit, scheduled for 11 May, after consulting its administration and member states.

He said that during the meeting, the ministers will also discuss a potential successor for outgoing Secretary General Amr Moussa, whose term ends the same day.

A number of Gulf states had demanded the summit be cancelled, citing Iraq's stance on anti-government protests by opposition groups in Bahrain.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari during a visit to Cairo last week tried to convince Moussa to hold the summit on time, but his attempt failed because of a collective Gulf rejection.
 

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