Arab Envoys Fail to Heal Division Over Iraqi Invasion
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UNITED NATIONS — Foreign ministers or envoys from all Arab nations except Iraq met Wednesday but failed in an effort to heal their division over the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.
Hard-liners in what was described as an informal session of the 21-member Arab League are calling for military action against Baghdad, while moderates back a diplomatic solution tied to the Palestinian question.
A formal meeting of the league will take place Oct. 22 at the group’s Cairo headquarters, officials said. In August the league’s representatives abandoned hope for a peaceful solution to the gulf crisis and called for dispatching Arab troops to the region.
Prince Saud al Faisal, foreign minister of Saudi Arabia, emerged grim-faced from the two-hour conference, flanked by an equally grim Prince Bandar ibn Sultan, Saudi ambassador to Washington.
Prince Saud told the U.N. General Assembly in a tough speech Tuesday that “there is no need for vacillation between word and deed” in carrying out the U.N. Security Council’s demand that Iraq withdraw unconditionally from Kuwait.
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