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CNN Live Saturday
Arab League Takes Stance Against War in Iraq
Aired March 01, 2003 - 17:35 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: The Arab League has taken a stand against waging war in Iraq. The vote came in a meeting marked by a testy exchange between Libya and Saudi Arabia. CNN chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour is live in Sharm el- Sheik, Egypt, with more on that -- Christiane.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Renay, it was an Arab summit that almost didn't happen. There was such deep divisions between the leaders on the one hand those Arab countries which were implacably opposed to war, and on the other hand, of course, those Arab countries which have bases in their countries which right now have U.S. troops and others who are preparing for a potential war.
So there were divisions at the outset. In the end, they did come up with a joint communique and obviously they did call for war to be averted. They definitely don't want there to be a war, as you can imagine, and they also called on Iraq to do a lot more to cooperate quickly and rapidly and to get it done at what they have to do in terms of disarmament done to the satisfaction of the international community.
At one point, there was a spat inside the summit, sort of perhaps highlighting some of the tensions and divisions that there were. There was a talk by the Libyan leader, Muammar Gadhafi, and he was busy saying that it was the Arabs who had caused all the problems in the region, because, he said, countries such as Saudi Arabia, more than 10 years ago, had invited in the U.S. troops to help during the first Gulf War. And he said that it was those U.S. troops that stayed in this region that caused the trouble.
Well, Saudi Arabia reacted very strongly to that. The crown prince wagging his finger at Colonel Gadhafi. And this is what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRINCE SAUD AL-FAISAL, SAUDI FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is not an agent of imperialism. Don't try to pose your opinion in this context if you're not aware of real facts and situations.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AMANPOUR: Well, that amounts to pretty strong stuff between Arab leaders, who are always really delivering addresses to each other in the most flowery manner. And certainly, a lot of the speeches at this summit were just that.
Well, it prompted also Saudi Arabia to walk out. A lot of Arab delegations followed Saudi Arabia. And it took a moment of fence mending and some diplomacy to smooth over those divisions and bring the delegates back in and resume the summit. Back to you, Renay.
SAN MIGUEL: Well, Christiane, I'm wondering what exactly was said about Saddam Hussein? Any more detail about the level of cooperation he should show to U.N. inspectors?
AMANPOUR: Well, that he should do it much quicker and that he should do much more of it. Outside the summit, we spoke to the Saudi foreign minister, and before that to the Egyptian foreign minister. And they all said, really, Saddam Hussein has to do a lot more, and do it very quickly and really show disarmament and transparency, account for the weapons if he says that he's destroyed them.
So that's what he was saying. But also for the first time an Arab leader at this summit, in fact for the first time ever, an Arab leader publicly called on Saddam Hussein to step down. The leaders of the UAE, the United Arab Emirates, issued a paper, calling on Saddam Hussein to surrender power and leave Iraq in order to avert war. But that was not in the end taken up as part of the final communique.
SAN MIGUEL: OK. Christiane Amanpour, live in Sharm el-Sheik, Egypt, thank you very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired March 1, 2003 - 17:35 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: The Arab League has taken a stand against waging war in Iraq. The vote came in a meeting marked by a testy exchange between Libya and Saudi Arabia. CNN chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour is live in Sharm el- Sheik, Egypt, with more on that -- Christiane.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Renay, it was an Arab summit that almost didn't happen. There was such deep divisions between the leaders on the one hand those Arab countries which were implacably opposed to war, and on the other hand, of course, those Arab countries which have bases in their countries which right now have U.S. troops and others who are preparing for a potential war.
So there were divisions at the outset. In the end, they did come up with a joint communique and obviously they did call for war to be averted. They definitely don't want there to be a war, as you can imagine, and they also called on Iraq to do a lot more to cooperate quickly and rapidly and to get it done at what they have to do in terms of disarmament done to the satisfaction of the international community.
At one point, there was a spat inside the summit, sort of perhaps highlighting some of the tensions and divisions that there were. There was a talk by the Libyan leader, Muammar Gadhafi, and he was busy saying that it was the Arabs who had caused all the problems in the region, because, he said, countries such as Saudi Arabia, more than 10 years ago, had invited in the U.S. troops to help during the first Gulf War. And he said that it was those U.S. troops that stayed in this region that caused the trouble.
Well, Saudi Arabia reacted very strongly to that. The crown prince wagging his finger at Colonel Gadhafi. And this is what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRINCE SAUD AL-FAISAL, SAUDI FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is not an agent of imperialism. Don't try to pose your opinion in this context if you're not aware of real facts and situations.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AMANPOUR: Well, that amounts to pretty strong stuff between Arab leaders, who are always really delivering addresses to each other in the most flowery manner. And certainly, a lot of the speeches at this summit were just that.
Well, it prompted also Saudi Arabia to walk out. A lot of Arab delegations followed Saudi Arabia. And it took a moment of fence mending and some diplomacy to smooth over those divisions and bring the delegates back in and resume the summit. Back to you, Renay.
SAN MIGUEL: Well, Christiane, I'm wondering what exactly was said about Saddam Hussein? Any more detail about the level of cooperation he should show to U.N. inspectors?
AMANPOUR: Well, that he should do it much quicker and that he should do much more of it. Outside the summit, we spoke to the Saudi foreign minister, and before that to the Egyptian foreign minister. And they all said, really, Saddam Hussein has to do a lot more, and do it very quickly and really show disarmament and transparency, account for the weapons if he says that he's destroyed them.
So that's what he was saying. But also for the first time an Arab leader at this summit, in fact for the first time ever, an Arab leader publicly called on Saddam Hussein to step down. The leaders of the UAE, the United Arab Emirates, issued a paper, calling on Saddam Hussein to surrender power and leave Iraq in order to avert war. But that was not in the end taken up as part of the final communique.
SAN MIGUEL: OK. Christiane Amanpour, live in Sharm el-Sheik, Egypt, thank you very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
