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Rabat – This year’s Arab League summit, previously scheduled to take place in Algiers this coming March, has been delayed to later in the year, following a lack of clarity from the Algerian regime.
The summit has been missing a starting date, which is unprecedented for an event of this scale, as March draws closer.
Assistant Secretary-General of the League of Arab States Hossam Zaki said that the new date would be announced during a meeting of Arab foreign ministers on March 9.
Zaki said the summit would not be held before the month of Ramadan, which will begin in April.
Algeria is completely ready to host the summit, and all preparations have been made, according to Zaki.
He also added that negotiations about the starting date are ongoing, and that the developments with the ongoing Coronavirus surge have interfered with those efforts.
“We hope that cooperation between the two parties will continue until this event, which we hope will be successful and historic, especially since it coincides with the 60th anniversary of Algeria’s independence,” Zaki said.
Other sources, however, report that the summit will not be held in Algeria at all, with an Algiers summit being “subject to certain conditions.”
Political commentators have also noted that the Arab League sending a committee to visit Algeria could be seen as questioning Algeria’s ability to host the event itself, and that such an approach would be unthinkable with other countries.
The postponement is a blow to Algeria’s regime, which was hoping to use the event to end its isolation in the region and reposition itself diplomatically, especially in the midst of regional tensions with its Moroccan neighbor.
The Arab League’s adoption of a full Moroccan map earlier this year undermined Algeria’s position in the regional dispute, as it required the North African regime to display a full map of Morocco at the League’s summit.
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Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune recently visited his Egyptian counterpart, reportedly to garner much-needed regional support and encourage higher level participation in the now delayed summit.
Algerian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ramtane Lamamra also toured Gulf countries such as the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar, after they voiced support for Morocco’s plan regarding the Western Sahara region.
