To advance the causes of their region:

Arab mini-summit winds up with unity pledge

SAUDIARABIA: The leaders of Saudi Arabia, Syria, Egypt and Kuwait pledged to work together to advance the causes of their region, at a mini-Arab Summit held in the Saudi capital on Wednesday.

“The leaders consider that their meeting marks the start of a new period in their relations which will see their four countries act together in the service of Arab interests,” they said in a statement at the end of their talks.

It also signaled the launch of “serious and continuous action for the benefit of Arab countries and of their agreement to embark on a unified path regarding essential issues, topped by the Palestinian question.”

The brief statement noted that the mini-summit followed a call from Saudi King Abdullah for inter-Arab reconciliation he made at an Arab economic summit held in Kuwait City in January.

The meeting between Abdullah, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, his Egyptian counterpart Hosni Mubarak and Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah took place at Riyadh air base, the Saudi state news agency SPA said.

The encounter was designed to mark a thaw in frosty relations between Syria on the one hand and the pro-Western Saudi Arabia and Egypt on the other.

The Saudi kingdom, a regional powerhouse, called for the mini-summit in a bid to iron out Arab differences and present a united front at the Arab League summit set for March 29 and 30 in Qatar.

Assad’s visit came after years of strained ties over Damascus’s close links with non-Arab Iran and its backing for radical Islamist movements such as the Palestinian group Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah.

Saudis were also angered by Syria’s alleged complicity in the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri, a Saudi citizen and protege. Syria has steadfastly denied it was involved.

Riyadh wants to shore up support for a 2002 Saudi-inspired Arab peace initiative which offers Israel full normalisation of ties in return for an end to the occupation of Arab land it captured in the 1967 Middle East war.

Riyadh, Thursday, AFP