The eighteenth annual Arab League summit in Khartoum begins on Tuesday and has been shortened to one day, instead of two days.
At least nine Arab leaders are not attending the summit due to either their health conditions, security concerns or tension between Arab League members.
The leaders who will not be participating in the summit are Saudi King ‘Abdallah Bin ‘Abd Al-‘Aziz, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Bahraini King Sheikh Hamad Bin ‘Isa Al Khalifa, President of the United Arab Emirates Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayyid Al Nahyan, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, Tunisian President Zine El-‘Abadine Ben ‘Ali, Sultan of Oman Qabous Bin Sa’id, Moroccon King Muhammad VI and Jordanian King ‘Abdallah.
Diplomats have said a low-level conference might not be able to adequately tackle the issues on the agenda which include political, social and economic developments in Iraq, the Palestinian Authority, Syria, Sudan, nuclear issues and dialogue between civilizations.
The last two Arab League summits in Algeria and Tunisia were also marred by the absence of high-level leaders.