9news.com.au
by RAW
Morocco has decided not host the 2016 Arab League meeting, saying it wants to avoid giving a false impression of unity in the Arab world.
The annual meeting, which would have been the group’s 27th, was initially set for on March 29 in the Moroccan tourist city of Marrakesh but had already been postponed to April 7 at Saudi Arabia’s request.
“Amid the lack of important decisions and concrete initiatives to submit to the heads of states, this summit will be just an other occasion to approve ordinary resolutions and to pronounce speeches that give a false impression of unity,” a statement from the Moroccan foreign ministry said.
“Arab leaders cannot confine themselves, once more, to simply analysing the bitter situation of divergences and divisions without giving decisive responses,” it added.
The region is riven by the rivalry between Sunni Muslim power Saudi Arabia and the leading Shi’ite power Iran. The two are backing different sides in the Syrian conflict and different factions in neighbouring Lebanon.
