Next Wednesday, the foreign ministers of the Arab League will hold a meeting to discuss several issues, most notably the Libyan crisis and the Palestinian issue.
The Arab League began preparing for a meeting of its foreign ministers within the framework of the Council’s (154) session, which will be (hypothetically) headed by Palestine. The preparatory meetings, in which the permanent delegates will participate today, will tackle a number of issues, including the Turkish and Iranian interventions in the internal affairs of Arab countries and recent developments in Libya.
Sawt Beirut International’s website quoted an Egyptian diplomatic source as saying that the meetings come as an affirmation of the Arab positions that must be taken into account in resolving the Libyan crisis. This is in recognition to the fact that Turkish actions mainly constitute a direct threat to 5 Arab countries, namely Libya, Sudan, Egypt, Tunisia and Algeria.
The website also quoted Libyan diplomatic sources who confirmed that the Libyan people are depending on the support of Arab countries against the Muslim Brotherhood’s threat, as other international powers are more interested in competing between each other and reforming the economy, instead of paying attention to Arab national security.
The sources highlighted two political tracks, one of which is sponsored by the UN in Geneva, which is more concerned with international powers’ struggles inside Libya. The other one is in Morocco, where it appears that the track is moving towards ideological quotas that ensure that the Muslim Brotherhood is not excluded from the Libyan scene.
The Libyan diplomatic source expects the issuance of an Arab decision to install a ceasefire in Libya, and to emphasize the Arab principles and priorities.
On the other hand, Geneva embraces a negotiations track that includes representatives from the elected Libyan Parliament and representatives of the Presidential Council of Fayez Al-Sarraj’s government, in addition to representatives of the former Libyan regime who support Gaddafi and his son Saif Al-Islam.
Meanwhile, the work of the other negotiating track continues in Morocco between the Speaker of Parliament, Ageela Saleh, and the Muslim Brotherhood affiliated chairman of the High Council of State, Khaled al-Mishri.