The Foreign Minister, Prince Saud Al-Faisal bin Abdul Aziz, said that recent weeks have witnessed intensive consultation regarding the tense situation facing the Arab nation.
In his weekly press briefing held at Jiddah Conference Palace, Prince Saud Al-Faisal said that an Arab summit is scheduled for 1 March, upon a joint invitation by the King of Bahrain and the President of Egypt. The summit is convened to discuss three major issues: the Iraqi crisis, the Palestinian issue, and possible means to rectify the Arab situation.
He said that the leadership of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has spared no effort to fulfil its Arab and Islamic responsibilities in the face of current challenges: “The leadership of this country has conducted wide-reaching consultation with the leaders of other countries, focused on possible ways of settling the major problems facing the Arab world.” In addition to consultation, those efforts have included the proposal of the initiative put forward by Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, Deputy Premier and Commander of the National Guard, as a basis to rectify the Arab situation and bring about “new credibility” for Arab joint action.
Prince Saud Al-Faisal called for rectification of Arab-Arab relations on the basis of seriousness and credibility. “This seriousness can never be achieved unless people agree that if they say something they should be committed to it,” he said. If this principle, and the other principles included in Prince Abdullah’s initiative, were agreed upon, Arab summits could meet the aspirations of the peoples of the region. “We hope that the principles presented by the Crown Prince will be approved and followed by Arab leaders to provide a guarantee for such seriousness, and we look forward to decisions leading to a peaceful resolution of the Iraqi issue and a solution for the Palestinian issue. Implementing necessary reforms will enable the Arab nation to revive its contribution to world civilization. Every Arab country should seek to improve its situation by, among other things, introducing the required reforms so that the Arab nation can effectively contribute to international political action as well as the human civilization of today,” Prince Saud said.
In response to comments that the Kingdom seemed to have reservations about German-French proposals to avert war presented to the Security Council, Prince Saud Al-Faisal said that the Kingdom is predominantly concerned about the integrity, independence, regional sovereignty and internal stability of Iraq. “We appreciate the efforts exerted by all parties to bring about an agreeable resolution of the Iraq issue,” he said, “But we are concerned that this problem has remained unresolved for the past twelve and a half years, which has resulted in a great deal of suffering for the Iraqi people.” He attributed the serious deterioration of the standard of living of the Iraqi people to major errors of the Iraqi administration, which led to two wars against neighbouring Iran and Kuwait. He said that the tragedy of the Iraqi people has been prolonged, to the detriment of the country, and should be brought to an end.
We believe that the proposals to deal with this issue should address the whole Iraqi problem, and should not emanate from political considerations or differences between Security Council member states that lead to division of the Security Council and a return to the days of polarization when each bloc lobbied for its position, a situation that would undermine the efficiency of the Security Council and the United Nations. “The above factors make us focus on the importance of demonstrating the unity of the Security Council, according to the Charter of the United Nations, which calls for the preservation of the independence and sovereignty of member states and, with regard to Iraq, calls, among other things, for Iraq’s respect and implementation of the relevant resolutions of the Security Council,” he said.
“We are concerned about the disagreement among members of the Security Council over the definition of its job regarding such a critical and sensitive issue, and about how we agree on the necessity of reaching a Security Council resolution yet we differ on the means of its implementation.”
Prince Saud Al-Faisal refuted the report of the U.S. Washington Post which said that the Kingdom fully permitted U.S. troops to use Prince Sultan base in a war on Iraq, saying: “We have not stated this. The newspaper reported something that we have not officially stated. On many occasions I have affirmed that the matter depends only upon the Safwan Agreement.” In this regard, Prince Saud stressed that the troops’ presence in the Kingdom’s territories is aimed at implementation of the United Nations resolutions on monitoring a no-fly zone imposed on Iraq.
On the meetings of Non-Aligned Movement in Kuala Lumpur and the threat of the Malaysian Premier to use oil as a weapon to avert war on Iraq, Prince Saud said: “The Kingdom does not consider oil as a weapon. Rather, it is a resource used within the framework of national issues. Thus, we do not understand the use of an oil threat at a time when we seek peaceful solutions. International relations are based on cooperation not confrontation, and on promoting mutual interests rather than deploying the potentialities of one country to fight another.”
On the results of Saudi-U.S. negotiations regarding investment of gas companies, he said that the companies that offered bids are not American, but they were selected by the Kingdom owing to their experience in the field of gas. He pointed out that the Kingdom has presented a recent proposal to the companies, adding that positive responses and some queries on the text ensued. The Prince said that the companies initially accepted the Kingdom’s offer, and that he expects forthcoming discussions to yield agreement between the two sides.
Replying to a question on the opposition to war on Iraq and demands that the Arab summit avert war in any possible way, Prince Saud noted that Arab countries have responsibilities in this regard. Hence they all proclaimed their opposition to a military resolution to the issue, and their insistence on a peaceful solution, which serves the best interests of all sides. He added that the decision does not lie in the hands of Arab countries, but rather it lies in the willingness of the Iraqi government to cooperate fully with international inspectors.
Prince Saud said that the Kingdom is trying to contribute to the dialogue in New York, stressing that there should be no hurry to war before all peaceful means and potentialities are thoroughly explored.
With regard to Saudi-Iranian cooperation, Prince Saud said that a date has been set for the Iranian Foreign Minister to pay a visit to the Kingdom, within the framework of continual coordination between the two countries.
On the inevitability of war and the necessity of the participation of Arab countries in a post-war strategy, he said that all Arab policies stress averting war rather than planning for a post-war Iraq. “We are clarifying the risks of embarking on war, which include the partition of Iraq. In the long term, this situation will destabilize the region,” he said.
Prince Saud said that the ideal solution to the Iraq issue should be based upon the United Nations report by inspectors and Iraq’s approval of the results of the report.
He added that Arab countries aim to avert war and hope that Iraq will assist them to achieve this goal by implementing the relevant United Nations resolutions.
On the issue of the Islamic Summit called for by the State of Qatar, Prince Saud said that consultations at the Islamic Summit in Kuala Lumpur reflected opposition to war, adding that the position of the Muslim world is known to be in full support of the position of Arab countries. We must all do our utmost to avert war, not pave the way for military action.
Prince Saud said that the current status quo benefits neither the Arab nation in general nor the state of Iraq in particular, and that it is would benefit all if a destructive war were avoided. “Our region has been suffering the consequences of the problem of Palestine for sixty years and the problem of Iraq for twelve and a half years. It is time for this region to enjoy some stability. We do not want the Iraqi problem to be prolonged for years to come.” The solution we look forward to is one based on a commitment to the peaceful implementation of international legitimacy.
In response to comments on fears of the Arab public that Iraq will be held responsible for the crisis while demands should be addressed to the United States to stop its threats of war, Prince Saud said that the two aspects are of equal importance. He said that cooperating with the inspectors’ instructions is the responsibility of Iraq, which could accordingly avert war, and that the United States, in its capacity as a permanent member of the Security Council, should be concerned to promote peace rather than war.
When asked to comment on reports that the U.S. is motivated only by a desire to control Iraqi oil resources, Prince Saud said that this is a false interpretation of the issue, and noted that a people like the Iraqis could never be colonized.
Source: SPA
