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Zayed proposes plan to resolve Iraq crisis

According to Article Two of the initiative, Shaikh Zayed said the entire Iraqi leadership should leave Iraq within two weeks of the adopting of the initiative. It suggested the Iraqi leadership "all suitable privileges" in return for abdicating power.

Article Three of the initiative, the channel said, called for a general pardon for all Iraqis inside and outside the country. "The Arab League shall in cooperation with the United Nations supervise the situation in Iraq for a transitional period until the country returns to normalcy in accordance with the will of the brotherly Iraqi people," Shaikh Zayed proposed.

Abu Dhabi TV said the initiative was submitted to Arab leaders to be examined by Iraq, Arab and international parties. "It seeks to stop the Iraq crisis from drifting from bad to worse," he added. In the first reaction to the UAE proposal, Saudi Foreign Minister Saud Al Faisal said the idea would be discussed in detail. "We are sure that the United Arab Emirates under the leadership of the President, His Highness Shaikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, will not issue anything that is not in the Arab interest," he told reporters on the sidelines of the Arab summit in Egypt's Red Sea resort of Sharm El Sheikh.

He added that the ideas contained in Shaikh Zayed's proposal were open for deliberations by Arab leaders. Prince Saud Al Faisal said it was not a full-fledged initiative, but an idea that would be discussed.

Meanwhile, UAE Minister of Information and Culture Shaikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan said the initiative had the backing of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

"Arab states such as Kuwait and Saudi Arabia openly approved the initiative of the President, His Highness Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, and other Arab states approve it as well but did not have the courage to openly announce it," Shaikh Abdullah told reporters after the end of the summit here. He deplored the stand taken by some Arab leaders and senior representatives who refrained from discussing the initiative "that could spare Iraq the torment of war".

"The Arabs have refused to discuss the initiative, arguing that it would have constituted a dangerous precedent, but this means that they are not really seeking an end to the crisis," he said.

He said people would remember and talk about Shaikh Zayed's initiative when Iraq "is run over and the American troops enter Baghdad".

"Arabs have unfortunately lost the last chance for an Arab resolution of the Iraqi crisis by refusing to accept or even discuss the UAE initiative," Shaikh Abdullah said. Had the Arab League upheld the initiative , he said, the US or the UN would have no option but to accept it, but the Arab League did not have the guts to discuss the issue."

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