Arab leaders meeting in Khartoum said yesterday they expected little change from Israeli elections in which Ehud Olmert claimed victory.
The interim prime minister pledges to retain parts of the occupied West Bank in which there are large Jewish settlement blocs, give up other areas and impose a border unilaterally on the Palestinians.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the election result would make no difference unless Olmert changed his policies.
"This result will not change [anything] as long as the agenda of Olmert himself does not change and he does not abandon the question of `unilateral agreements,'" Abbas told reporters in Khartoum, where he is attending the annual Arab summit.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem said the victory of Olmert's Kadima party was expected and it was more important to see the shape of the coalition he would put together and "what its course would be -- peaceful or not."
"The ball is in the Israeli court because during these years since the launch of Madrid [the 1991 peace conference in Madrid], Israel with all its ruling parties has put obstacles in the way of attaining peace," he added.
Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa said: "It's not comprehensible leaving the issue of Jerusalem or accepting unilateral withdrawals according to Israeli whims. This will not work but will only lead to worsening matters more and more."
"It is impossible to accept Israeli proposals that we have seen so far. Is there anything new the new Israeli government can come up with? Many Arabs don't think so, so the Arab world has to look at all the possibilities," he added.
The Arab summit, which ended yesterday, renewed an Arab offer of peace with Israel in exchange for withdrawal from territory occupied since the 1967 Middle East war. Israel has in the past rejected the offer.
The summit also opposed unilateral steps by Israel, calling for a return to multilateral peace negotiations under international supervision.
Arab leaders also agreed on a US$150-million aid package for cash-strapped African Union (AU) troops deployed in Sudan's war-torn Darfur region.
The move came after summit host Sudan sought to win backing for its opposition to plans for the dispatch of UN peacekeepers to Darfur, where war, disease and famine have cost up to 300,000 lives in three years.
Arab leaders stopped short of an outright rejection of wider international intervention in the conflict, but said any deployment of any other troops should have the approval of the government in Khartoum.
The leaders endorsed a resolution to allocate US$150 million to the African troops over the next six months and called on Arab countries to "provide financial and logistic support to the AU mission in Darfur to enable it to continue performing its tasks."
The resolution stressed that the AU should "continue its efforts and accomplish its mission to end the crisis of Darfur," mainly through peace talks being held in Abuja, according to a copy seen by the press.
Arab leaders also stipulated that the deployment of any other troops in the region required Sudan's "pre-approval" and called on "Arab African countries to strengthen their participation in the AU force."
But regional heavyweight Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said in an interview published yesterday he would not send troops to Darfur unless there was a peace agreement between rebels and Khartoum.
"Only then could Egypt take part in a peacekeeping force in this region," he told the weekly al-Mussawar.
END OF AN ERA: The vote brings the curtain down on 20 years of socialist rule, which began in 2005 when Evo Morales, an indigenous coca farmer, was elected president A center-right senator and a right-wing former president are to advance to a run-off for Bolivia’s presidency after the first round of elections on Sunday, marking the end of two decades of leftist rule, preliminary official results showed. Bolivian Senator Rodrigo Paz was the surprise front-runner, with 32.15 percent of the vote cast in an election dominated by a deep economic crisis, results published by the electoral commission showed. He was followed by former Bolivian president Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga in second with 26.87 percent, according to results based on 92 percent of votes cast. Millionaire businessman Samuel Doria Medina, who had been tipped
ELECTION DISTRACTION? When attention shifted away from the fight against the militants to politics, losses and setbacks in the battlefield increased, an analyst said Recent clashes in Somalia’s semi-autonomous Jubaland region are alarming experts, exposing cracks in the country’s federal system and creating an opening for militant group al-Shabaab to gain ground. Following years of conflict, Somalia is a loose federation of five semi-autonomous member states — Puntland, Jubaland, Galmudug, Hirshabelle and South West — that maintain often fractious relations with the central government in the capital, Mogadishu. However, ahead of elections next year, Somalia has sought to assert control over its member states, which security analysts said has created gaps for al-Shabaab infiltration. Last week, two Somalian soldiers were killed in clashes between pro-government forces and
Ten cheetah cubs held in captivity since birth and destined for international wildlife trade markets have been rescued in Somaliland, a breakaway region of Somalia. They were all in stable condition despite all of them having been undernourished and limping due to being tied in captivity for months, said Laurie Marker, founder of the Cheetah Conservation Fund, which is caring for the cubs. One eight-month-old cub was unable to walk after been tied up for six months, while a five-month-old was “very malnourished [a bag of bones], with sores all over her body and full of botfly maggots which are under the
BRUSHED OFF: An ambassador to Australia previously said that Beijing does not see a reason to apologize for its naval exercises and military maneuvers in international areas China set off alarm bells in New Zealand when it dispatched powerful warships on unprecedented missions in the South Pacific without explanation, military documents showed. Beijing has spent years expanding its reach in the southern Pacific Ocean, courting island nations with new hospitals, freshly paved roads and generous offers of climate aid. However, these diplomatic efforts have increasingly been accompanied by more overt displays of military power. Three Chinese warships sailed the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand in February, the first time such a task group had been sighted in those waters. “We have never seen vessels with this capability