Arab League Delays Summit in Baghdad

The Arab League has delayed a summit that was to be held in Iraq next month as a wave of political unrest rocks the region, its deputy secretary general told Agence French Presse on Wednesday.

Ahmed Ben Hilli said consultations with the pan-Arab organization’s 22 members showed a "preference to delay the summit" that was scheduled for May 15 and added that an upcoming ministerial meeting would set a new date for summit.

The league's outgoing secretary general Amr Moussa had earlier said that it might be best to delay the meeting because of regional unrest.

"The public mood in the region is transitional, nervous and rebellious, which leads us to ask whether it is wise to hold a summit in this period," he said.

Two Arab leaders, Egypt's Hosni Mubarak and Tunisia's Zein al-Abidin Ben Ali, have been deposed by protests that have spread to other countries in the region.

Iraq has not hosted a regular Arab summit since 1978 but an extraordinary summit was held in Baghdad in 1990.