Arab Summit in Tunisia: Agenda, Participants, Issues

By Nawal Sayed

CAIRO, March 31 (SEE) - The 30th Summit of the Arab League of States will be held on Sunday in Tunisia with participation of a number of Arab heads of states and senior statesmen.

The Arab leaders are expected to unite at the AL summit to oppose a U.S. decision to recognize Israel's annexation of the Golan Heights captured in 1967 from Syria.

SEE Publishes the AL Summit’s Agenda:

• The summit will start with a public opening session attended by media representatives
• Opening session usually starts with verses of the Quran.
• A speech will be delivered by Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, as former head of the Arab League.
• Presidency of the summit will be transferred from Saudi to Tunisia.
• Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi will give a speech.
• AL Secretary League Ahmad Abul Gheit will give a speech.
• The first session will be held at 1:00 p.m. (Cairo local time).
• The first session includes speeches of Arab leaders who will approve the official agenda before discussing it.
• At 03:00 p.m. (CLT), the concluding session will start and will be open to the media.
• It will include a reading of the Declaration of Tunis, speech of the next presidency of the 31stsummit, and then the concluding speech by the Tunisian President.

Thirteen leaders are expected to attend the summit such as:

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Sisi

Saudi King Salman bin Abdel Aziz

Tunisian President Essebsi

Emir of Kuwait Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah

Lebanese President Michel Aoun

Jordanian King Abdullah II

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas

Iraqi President Barham Salih

Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi

Mauritanian President Mohammad Ould Abdelaziz

President of Djibouti Ismail Omar Gili

Libya’s Chairman of the Presidential Council of Libya and prime minister of the Government of National Accord Fayez Mustafa al-Sarraj

Qatar's Emir Tamim Al Thani

The leaders of Sudan and Algeria are not expected to attend, with both nations roiled by anti-government protests.

Abdelaziz Bouteflika, Algeria's ailing, 82-year-old president who has ruled for 20 years, and Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, in power for three decades and wanted by international prosecutors for alleged war crimes in his country's Darfur region, are both facing calls to step down.

Syria has been suspended from the Arab League since 2011 over its crackdown on protesters at the start of the civil war. The League has said there was still no consensus to allow Syria's reinstatement.