CAIRO: Former Egyptian candidate for the post of Arab League Secretary General, Moustafa El-Fiqi, welcomed the decision to field Foreign Minister Nabil El-Araby instead of him, and expressed content that an Arab consensus was reached. El-Fiqi was Egypt's initial candidate to the Arab League and was competing against Qatar's Abdul Rahman Al-Attiyah, a former Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) secretary general. In a surprise move, Egypt withdrew its nomination of El-Fiqi and fielded El-Araby instead, who won the vote of the Arab foreign ministers, representing the 22 member states, on the same day. El-Fiqi said in a press statement that he previously expressed his desire to withdraw his candidacy in case there was Arab consensus on another Egyptian diplomat, stressing that it is important that the post remains Egyptian. "I wanted to withdraw my candidacy to be part of the solution of the Arab consensus problem in this critical situation the Arab world is going through. It is more important that the post remains Egyptian regardless of whether I get it or not," he added. El-Fiqi said that he recognizes that the Qatari objection on his candidacy led to his withdrawal and expressed gratitude for the support he received from the majority of Arab countries except from Qatar and Sudan. El-Araby's nomination was quickly followed by Qatar's withdrawal of its candidate. El-Fiqi, a former member of the disbanded National Democratic Party (NDP) and head of the foreign affairs committee at the People Assembly, was subject of heavy criticism inside Egypt for being part of the ousted regime. El-Fiqi said that he will now focus on his academic work and publishing new books that he has been working on.
