Egypt’s president will skip a key Arab summit this week, the country’s foreign minister announced Saturday, in a move highlighting divisions within the group.
President Hosni Mubarak will not attend the Arab summit in Qatar on Monday, although Egypt will still be represented at the annual gathering, Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit said on Saturday.
He also stayed away from a meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Doha on Saturday in advance of the summit.
Egypt and Qatar have recently taken rival approaches to the Palestinian crisis as Cairo continues to mediate talks aimed at Palestinian reconciliation and forging a sustainable ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian group ruling the Gaza Strip.
Qatari officials tried to play down Mubarak’s decision not to participate.
“Egypt is a represented in the summit and we respect their decision. … I can’t say that the Egyptian-Qatari relations are excellent, but we have a good working relation,” Qatari Foreign Minister Sheik Hamad bin Jassem Al Thani told reporters after a meeting of Arab foreign ministers on Saturday.
Also Saturday, Arab League chief Amr Moussa said that a resolution rejecting an international court’s arrest warrant for Sudan’s president would be issued during the summit.