Some Egyptian journalists even claim that the Egyptian President, Husni Mubarak, currently spends most of his time in Sharm al-Sheikh; away from the capital and the major cities.
The conference is expected to group over 50 states and international organizations, according to al-Mada, and a declaration is to be announced at the end of the summit pledging international support for Iraq and its government.
According to al-Hayat, Iraqi officials have announced that “99% of the final declaration (of the summit) has been agreed upon.” The same sources confirmed that the Iraqi government has refused to add an article to the final declaration calling for a scheduled withdrawal of foreign troops from Iraq.
The Sadrist Current repeated its criticisms against al-Maliki for his refusal to push for the departure of occupation forces from Iraq, and announced that 133 Iraqi deputies (out of 275) have signed a petition calling for a scheduled withdrawal.
Iraqi newspapers covered the summit in varying ways: Pro-government media outlets gave extensive coverage to the event, and stressed its importance for Iraq and its current government, while anti-government newspapers claimed that the summit will have little effect on the dire security situation.
Al-Mada enumerated the potential gains from the conference, including the -- expected -- cancellation of much of Iraq’s foreign debt, the pledging of aid packages by the participating nations and the diplomatic breakthroughs that the summit may accomplish.
Az-Zaman, on the other hand, carried a pessimistic headline, announcing that “(the summit of) Sharm al-Sheikh will not produce positive results.” According to the newspaper, the Egyptian media views the summit as “a public relations event, executed by Egypt to shore up the American President George Bush, who is trapped in the quagmire of Iraq and is surrounded by the opposition of the (American) public opinion and the Democrat-dominated Congress.”
Az-Zaman also pointed out that al-Maliki will be in a weak position during the summit, with his government suffering from popular and political opposition. The newspaper said that the vice-president Tariq al-Hashimi is currently considering withdrawing his party from the government, which could further al-Maliki’s troubles.
Pan-Arab al-Hayat, which extensively covered the event, stressed the limitations of the summit, especially after the early hopes of an American-Iranian breakthrough in Sharm al-Sheikh have proven to be largely unfounded.
Al-Hayat also published a draft of the final declaration that it received from “Western diplomatic sources in Sharm al-Sheikh.” According to the newspaper, a 3-hour meeting between the heads of delegations was necessary to clear up some of the controversial points in the final statement.
The Syrian government, al-Hayat claimed, insisted that the term “federalism” be taken out of the declaration, since it is a “controversial article in the Iraqi constitution.” Syria and Iran also insisted on the inclusion of a passage calling for a “scheduled withdrawal” of foreign troops from Iraq.
The latter issue caused some tension during the meeting, al-Hayat said, with the Iraqi vice minister of foreign affairs firmly opposing the idea, and an Iraqi diplomat announcing during the meeting: “we still need the foreign forces.”
Eventually, the conferees agreed on a compromise, al-Hayat recounted, whereby no specific timetable for withdrawal is to be mentioned in the statement, but with an understanding that “the presence of foreign troops (in Iraq) is not unlimited.”
The draft of the declaration, as published by al-Hayat, contained general statements of support for the “elected Iraqi government” and “the unity of Iraq”, and a repudiation of “sectarian violence” and “terrorism.” In other words: a declaration that is similar to those that resulted from the previous summits on Iraq.
An unnamed Arab diplomat, quoted by al-Hayat, summed up the prevailing view among the participants in the summit: “the most the world can expect from such summits . . . is a series of messages, such as telling the Iraqi leaders that they need to amend the constitution for the sake of national reconciliation. There will also be a message from the international community announcing its readiness to help Iraq. But what can draw a greater interest will be the discussions on the margins of the summit.”
