The Arab presence in the UN General Assembly this year failed to impress. Dina Ezzat sees what went wrong at the annual world gathering Reform and Iraq were the two major issues on the agenda of Arab participants at the UN General Assembly this year. Also on the table were developments in Palestine, Syria and Sudan. For over a week top Arab diplomats held meetings with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, members of the Security Council and foreign ministers in an effort to persuade the world that the situation in the region needed immediate action to prevent violence and instability from spilling over. But not many Arab diplomats now returning home are carrying good news. The Iraqi delegation, despite strong US backing, failed to persuade Annan to consider sending a UN mission to Iraq. It also failed to garner support for the US idea to hold partial rather than national elections in Iraq in January. Moreover, it failed to generate international community interest to pursue the reconstruction of Iraq. According to one Iraqi diplomat, the high-level Iraqi delegation to the General Assembly, led by Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, is returning home disappointed with the falling interest the world is showing towards Iraq. The predominant view among the members of the delegation, the diplomat said, is that the world, including the UN, looks at Iraq as "a land of violence" that should be avoided. However, on the sidelines of the New York meetings, American diplomacy managed to garner support for an international conference on Iraq that is now scheduled to take place at the ministerial level in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, in six weeks. While the meeting will consider a host of issues including the future of the political process in Iraq and reconstruction promises, it will focus mainly on restoring stability to the country. Iraqi Foreign Minister Houchiar Zebari said the conference's objective was to seek the support of Iraq's neighbours and the rest of the international community to stabilise the situation in the country. Zebari added that stability was the key to any political or reconstruction process. Egyptian officials say Cairo is enthusiastic about the conference out of its genuine concern for Iraq and that the situation is rapidly moving from bad to worse. "We had pinned hopes on the transfer of sovereignty [to the Iraqi people] at the end of June [and that the formation of] an Iraqi government and National Council... would constitute the first steps for the restoration" of security, stability and eventually full sovereignty to Iraq," Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit told the General Assembly earlier this week. However, he said this has not happened. "The events of the recent months have shown and continue to show every day that the Iraqi people are far from stability and independence." Voicing concern over the impact of this situation, Abul- Gheit asked, "will the events taking place in Iraq remain confined to Iraq or will their flames cross its borders, causing destruction and desolation in the region like they did in Iraq?" Meanwhile, in New York, Arab diplomats were involved in intensive discussion over reform, Washington's No 1 priority for their countries. On Friday, the delegations of most Arab and Muslim countries that fall within the geographic horizon qualified by Washington as the Greater Middle East, met with their counterparts from the G8 for a meeting entitled "Preparatory Meeting for the Forum of the Future". American diplomats in New York described the meeting as "a get-together of two great communities, the nations of the broader Middle East and North Africa, and the industrial democracies of the G8". The meeting, they said, should open the way towards taking steps necessary to build "a historic partnership to advance political, economic and social reform". During the meeting Arab ministers stressed the need to syncronise the US vision of reform for the Middle East with the cultural specifics of the countries involved. "But it was made clear by US Secretary of State [Colin] Powell that the Americans will not show much patience regarding any attempt on the part of the countries concerned to procrastinate on reform measures," one Arab diplomat who attended the meeting said. According to the diplomat, Powell was "very explicit" with his request for "prompt action" in areas of education and economy. The forum was the "most important" initiative that arose from discussions about ways in which the G8 countries could assist people in the Middle East who are calling for political, economic and education reforms in the region, said Alan Larson, US under-secretary of state for economic, business and agricultural affairs. "It is an unprecedented offer on the part of the G8 countries for a sustained, cooperative, respectful relationship with countries of the broader Middle East to help them achieve goals they have set for themselves." However, according to Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa, the important thing is that whatever reform measures are taken, the Arab world is not prepared to lose its identity. Moussa stressed that any talk of reform in the region will start on the wrong foot if certain Arab countries are to be excluded in accordance with the political agenda of a particular country. Syria and Libya were not invited to the forum that was co- chaired by the US and Morocco. In an attempt to stress Arab identity, Egypt is planning to host a meeting in Cairo in January to discuss possible G8 assistance on reform in Arab countries. "It is very important to stress the Arab identity. It is also very important to pay careful attention to the reform plans proposed in this part of the world," Abul-Gheit said. Cairo, Egyptian diplomats say, is hoping that the January meeting will allow for a more frank Middle East-focussed discussion which was lacking in the New York meetings. "We need to talk directly about the situation in the Middle East and how reform could be pursued parallel to efforts to resolve chronic problems such as the Arab-Israeli conflict and now the situation in Iraq," one Egyptian diplomat said. The Arab-Israeli conflict was subject to some debate in New York during the ministerial level meeting of the Quartet and Arab groups. However, no major decisions were taken. In fact, a statement issued late last week by the Quartet seemed to pour cold water on Arab expectations of a serious international effort to persuade the Israeli government to end its daily assaults on Palestinians under occupation. It was "with deep concern" that the Quartet noted that genuine action is still needed so that an "empowered" Palestinian prime minister and cabinet "can fulfil the Palestinian Authority's obligations under the roadmap, including an unequivocal end to violence and terrorism". Arab talks with international players on the fringes of the UN General Assembly regarding the need to bring an end to an increasingly daring Israeli position on Syria were inconclusive. Equally inconclusive were Arab attempts to persuade the US to ease the pressure it is putting on the Sudanese government in relation to the situation in Darfur. The most conclusive element of Arab talks in the UN General Assembly were preparations for an Arab-Latin summit proposed by Brazil last fall and which should take place in the South American country in around six months. Also perceived by Arab participants to be a relatively positive outcome was the debate over reform of the UN and the potential expansion of the Security Council. "We believe it is very important for the UN to reshape itself in accordance with the new world order that we are living in," commented one Egyptian diplomat. He added that such reform could not be considered successful if the Arab voice is not put across in the Security Council. In New York this week, Egypt proposed that it be considered a potential member of an expanded Security Council. "I think it is safe to say that this year Arab diplomats conducted many meetings and did not achieve many concrete results," said one Arab diplomat who took part in the UN General Assembly debates. However, he added that with just a few weeks to go before the US elections, it was unlikely that any serious political action would be taken.
