ARAB AFFAIRS - Jan. 30 - Tunis Won't House Summit If Rulers Disagree.

The Gulf Daily News reports an Arab official as saying Tunisian FM Habib Ben Yahia, in Cairo discussing with Arab League Sec-Gen. Amr Mousa preparations for the Arab summit to be held in Tunis in March, warned it will drop plans to host the conference if Arab rulers show signs of resuming the public quarrelling that has marred past meetings. It quotes as saying: "Tunisia will not host the summit if it finds grounds for its fears of a revival of Arab differences like those that appeared in Sharm Al-Sheikh" (Egypt) in March 2003. During that summit, held just before a US-led invasion of Iraq, Libyan ruler Muammar Qadhafi engaged in a televised row with Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah which ended in a brief walkout by the Saudi delegation. Ben Yahia told Mousa Tunis wanted "the summit prepared well to avoid the differences that appeared during the Sharm Al-Sheikh" meeting. The final decision on whether to host the summit will be taken by the Tunisian government based on a report he will submit to Tunisian President Zainalabedine Ben Ali. "Tunis has not declined its invitation to host the summit, but has not announced frankly that it will hold it either", says the official. Ben Yahia also met Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and his Egyptian counterpart Ahmad Maher. "We will soon reach a decision on the date and venue for the summit", Ben Yahia said later. Nonetheless, he added, "the priority is to discuss the main questions on the agenda" rather than the venue for the forum. (Tunisia is particularly worried that Arab rulers may quarrel with Qadhafi who in December agreed for the US and UK to rid Libya of its nuclear weapons programme and other WMD, a move which angered Syria and other Arab states. Libya, now working for an alliance with the US and UK, has repeatedly said in recent years that it wanted to leave the Arab League).