The New Arab publishes a multi-part testimony based on excerpts given by Farouk al-Sharaa, Bashar al-Assad's foreign minister and then vice president, reflecting on various pivotal events that took place in Syria and the region during his tenure.
The book Memoirs of Farouk al-Sharaa ... : 2000–2015 is being published by the Arab Centre for Research and Policy Studies. It covers a period of Bashar al-Assad's presidency (2005–2015) during which Farouk al-Sharaa continued to serve first as minister of foreign affairs, and later as vice president of the Republic, before being compelled to withdraw from public life in 2013, following a directive from Assad forbidding communication with him.
The New Arab's Arabic-language sister edition Al-Araby Al-Jadeed is publishing excerpts from the book. Here is the fourth instalment, concerning the two Arab League Summits held in Sirte, Libya, and presided over by the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2010.
The regular Arab League summit was held in Sirte at the end of March 2010, chaired by Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi under the slogan "Supporting the Steadfastness of Jerusalem and Gaza". The city's streets and squares were filled with huge posters of Gaddafi, with some of his "historic" statements on Palestine also displayed.
His friend, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, didn't attend the summit as he was undergoing medical treatment. Also absent was the Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, who chose not to attend due to disputes which had caused tension between Gaddafi and himself during the 2009 summit in Doha.
Gaddafi seemed disappointed at the start of the summit due to these absences. He'd just returned from New York elated after having delivered a fiery speech at the UN General Assembly, which drew lengthy applause from the delegates after he called for the abolition of the Security Council veto power. He tore up the UN Charter in front of representatives from various countries and threw it in the face of the president of the General Assembly, who was at the time Libya's foreign minister.
The United Nations, with its over 160 member states, was largely pleased with Gaddafi's bold speech before the General Assembly calling for the veto right to be abolished.
The Libyan city of Sirte was Gaddafi's hometown. The back rows of the summit conference were packed with Libyan figures loyal to the leader of the September 1 Revolution, who applauded admiringly at everything Gaddafi said. Their images appeared on the giant screens mounted around the spacious hall, which gave the impression that the entire conference was applauding him.
As Gaddafi would often repeat, the Libyan leader alone enjoyed such popularity and loyalty in Sirte, the home of his tribe.
In his opening speech at the Sirte Summit, as well as handing over the presidency to Muammar Gaddafi, the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, proposed forming a high-level committee to be headed by the summit chair, that is, Gaddafi, along with four or five other members to be elected by the conference. The committee's task would be to reform joint Arab action, he said, which was suffering from serious and chronic ailments.
The agenda distributed to the delegations at the Sirte Summit was comprehensive; it seemed that no topic, big or small, was left out of the list circulated to participants, reflecting Gaddafi's wishes.
Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, obviously feeling encouraged by the wide-ranging agenda, also put forward an initiative for unification among Arab states, modelled after the African Union and inspired by Gaddafi's federalist aspirations.
Amr Moussa, the Arab League's Secretary-General, believed the summit shouldn't limit itself to dialogue among Arab countries, but that this conference should also engage in dialogue with neighbouring non-Arab states - chief among them Turkey and Iran - with whom, he noted, "we share vital common interests as well as water and border disputes".
In light of the crowded agenda and the flood of proposals being submitted to the summit leadership, Gaddafi proposed either extending the conference by an extra day or postponing it to be reconvened before the end of 2010, given the large number of topics and the limited time allocated for the meeting. Applause for both suggestions came immediately from the Libyan back rows.
Amr Moussa then audibly whispered in Gaddafi's ear - since he was close to the microphone - "Why not hold two Arab summits each year, Brother Leader? One regular and the other consultative?"
The Brother Leader appeared delighted and gestured toward the Secretary-General of the Arab League with loud approval, effectively making the proposal to hold two summits annually an unavoidable decision.
Syria was keen to ensure the success of the regular Sirte Summit as a gesture of gratitude to Gaddafi, who had participated in the Damascus Summit in March 2008, while both the Saudi and the Egyptian leaders had boycotted it due to tensions linked to the aftermath of Rafic Hariri's assassination and the fallout of the July 2006 war.
Syria's commitment to Libya had been expressed by assigning me, along with a Syrian delegation including Faisal Mekdad and Bouthaina Shaaban, to undertake an Arab tour of the Maghreb countries ahead of the regular summit, with the aim of encouraging their leaders to attend the Sirte Summit, given the strained relations among the Maghreb states.
What I recall from this tour is that every leader we visited nodded their agreement to attend, but without firmly committing.
It so happened that the plane taking us to Agadir to meet King Mohammed VI nearly crashed while attempting to land at Agadir Airport, on the slopes of the Atlas Mountains. The plane swung wildly from side to side in the rainy night, with no view of the city through the windows and no sign of the runway lights.
We returned to Libya to brief Gaddafi on the results of our tour to Morocco, Mauritania, Algeria, and Tunisia, before informing him - as he listened looking uninterested - about a proposed plan to restructure the Arab summits and make the necessary amendments to the Arab League Charter in order to do this. This plan had been prepared for him by Amr Moussa, who had visited Gaddafi a few days before me to help prepare for the Arab Summit in Sirte.
Gaddafi asked his personal bodyguards to place a table in front of me and spread out colour-coded diagrams of the League's councils. He began to explain that each Arab ministry would have its own council within the League's meetings, and each council would address issues related to that specific ministry - from weapons imports to food price management. Each council would have a prime minister who would meet regularly with their equivalent ministers. The outcomes of these meetings would then be presented to the president of the Arab summit, "May God help him", as Gaddafi put it - referring to himself.
He then gazed at the ceiling of the tent for a long time, which was brightly decorated in colourful African patterns, before stating that the summit president must not abandon this responsibility until all the outcomes of the councils and committees were finalised, no matter how long that took.
At that moment, it dawned on me that he was planning to become the permanent president of the Arab League summits - and that the story I'd heard about him being furious with African leaders the previous year for refusing to extend his presidency of the African Union Summit in Addis Ababa wasn't just a rumour.
The Emir of Qatar breathed a sigh of relief when he handed over the presidency of the summit to Gaddafi, freeing himself from the burden of the two Arab summits he had hosted in Doha the previous year, 2009. The first had been an emergency summit during the Israeli assault on Gaza, which failed to meet the required quorum, and the second was a regular summit that witnessed a verbal altercation between King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz and Gaddafi.
The spat between the two leaders was the kind of comedic misunderstanding that film directors love to turn into TV dramas or stage plays. The twist of the story was that each man understood the other in the exact opposite way from how they had intended to be understood, and neither of them realised the other's true intentions until it was too late and the damage was done.
Although the Emir of Qatar managed to bring them together later on the same day, just before King Abdullah's departure, it seems that what was in the heart, remained in the heart.
King Abdullah's shock walkout from the Doha Summit the previous year was an expression of protest against Gaddafi's speech, which was meant to be a gesture of reconciliation - delivered in his own idiosyncratic style - and not a criticism of the Saudi monarch. Gaddafi froze in place, stunned, as he was subjected to a barrage of insults hurled at him by the Saudi king instead of receiving the warm welcome he had expected. Upon which he left his seat, clearly shocked, and exited the hall. At that point the summit chair suspended the session. Surprisingly, none of the other attending leaders had made any attempt to mediate between them.
I tried to persuade President Bashar (al-Assad) to play a role in clarifying what his friend Gaddafi had meant, but he had been unenthusiastic, replying: "What does this have to do with us?"
To return to the Sirte Summit, it was postponed without consultation, without a vote, and without winning anyone's approval - particularly the Palestinians, whether those participating from the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah or those observing from afar in Gaza.
The summit failed to make a decision regarding financial aid, which was supposed to amount to $500 million. As a result, the Palestinians were deprived of support for the steadfastness of Jerusalem's residents and of efforts to lift the siege on Gaza.
No one discussed Ali Abdullah Saleh's federal proposal either. Some leaders who tried speaking to journalists inside the conference hall had their voices lost in the noise and commotion.
And that's how the first Sirte Summit came to an end.
Second Sirte Summit
The second consultative Sirte Summit was held on October 10, 2010, about six months after the first regular Sirte Summit. Notably, many things had changed in Sirte during the six months which had elapsed between the two summits.
Foremost among these changes, I noticed an increase in the number of colour photos of the Leader of the September 1st Revolution, adorned in outfits specially designed for him. Notably, his brightly coloured garments would differ between morning and evening meetings.
The summit's slogans had also changed. Gone were the banners proclaiming support for "the Steadfastness of Jerusalem" that had filled every street intersection during the first Sirte Summit. They were replaced with selected quotes from the Libyan leader himself.
Another notable change was the scattering of Damask roses in the guest villas. These were strewn across bed covers, pillows, and even in the marble bathrooms. After a long workday and a formal dinner, removing flowers from sheets and pillows did not exactly make it easier to fall asleep.
Ordering breakfast for the next day had become a formal ritual carried out by a number of young men in black suits with crimson bowties. One of these young men, for example, would approach with a notebook and pen and inform you that food requests would arrive quickly, thanks to boats stationed around a Turkish ship anchored just offshore in calm Sirte waters, which served as a floating kitchen. "Order whatever you wish," he'd say, "your meals won't take long, because the boats are fast torpedo vessels".
I recalled the early eighties when I used to visit Libya, and how you couldn't even request breakfast to your hotel room. If you wanted something in the morning, you had to go down to the hotel kitchen yourself. The slogan that greeted you back then, from Tripoli Airport all the way to your hotel, was: "We are partners, not employees."
What also caught my attention - this time from a political angle - was the decision by the foreign ministers tasked with preparing for the second Sirte Summit that negotiations should be resumed between the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Israel without including the condition of a settlement freeze, which even US President Barack Obama had acknowledged the need for during his 2009 visit to Cairo.
Upon my arrival in Sirte on the eve of the second summit, accompanying President Assad, I was visited by our permanent representative to the Arab League, Yousef Ahmad. He was immediately followed by our Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad.
Both had participated in the foreign ministers' meetings alongside Foreign Minister Walid Muallem, in preparation for the summit. They informed me of the content of the deliberations and the draft resolutions the ministers had agreed to submit to the summit the following morning.
They spoke about what had happened the day before at the meeting of the Arab Peace Initiative Committee, chaired by Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani. A decision had been made that negotiations should resume between the Palestinians and Israelis without any preconditions with FM Walid Muallem having deliberately left the meeting hall before the decision was taken.
Ahmad and Mekdad described what had happened at the meeting, which took me aback; apparently Bin Jassim had winked at Muallem, seemingly as a pre-planned signal, at which the latter rose and left the meeting. This saw the decision calling for the PA to resume negotiations with Israel technically taken in Syria's absence, but still under an Arab mandate. The decision passed unanimously and without reservation from any Arab foreign minister, including, obviously, the Syrian minister.
Up to this point, resuming negotiations with Israel had been conditioned on Israel halting settlement activity, a condition that even Barack Obama, as I mentioned, couldn't dismiss or bypass, despite everyone's awareness of the special strategic relationship between the United States and Israel (although Obama did eventually move past that condition).
The summit ended up issuing a resolution approving negotiations with Israel without halting settlement activity, as none of the Arab leaders - including the Syrian president - objected to the final communiqué when Amr Moussa read it out in the evening. I had assumed the president had not been made aware of the issue.
I had asked Mekdad and Ahmad to inform the president of what had happened, as it was important for him to be aware of the decisions that would be put before the heads of state the following day. When I had spoken to the president, I realised they had informed him what had occurred, and he made no remark – either positive or negative - so I concluded that Muallem had not acted on his own initiative.
As we were flying back to Damascus, I spoke to President Assad about how the Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir had, in his final remarks at the summit, made an imploring speech about how South Sudan might secede from North Sudan, and that Sudan could be split in two - directing his words to the Arab leaders with the clear hope they would come to his aid. President Bashir was serious, as he said the issue was bigger than himself and bigger than Sudan. However, none of the Arab leaders had tried to clarify the situation or ask what was needed from the other Arab states to help save Sudan from partition.
I remarked to President Assad that I hadn't seen such total indifference at an Arab summit as I had witnessed during the second Sirte Summit - especially when the Sudanese president had raised the possibility of Sudan's partition.
The five-member committee, proposed by the Emir of Qatar at the first Sirte Summit to develop a framework for joint Arab action, was formed with Gaddafi as Chair, and included Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, and Amr Moussa.
President Assad was not given a seat on the committee. Relations between him and the Qatari Emir had been excellent in the areas of economic, social, and financial projects, but something had clearly happened between them in recent days.
The chilly relations between Presidents Assad and Mubarak had bothered Gaddafi since the 2008 Damascus Summit. During the Sirte Summit he had declared that it was unacceptable for the dispute between "my son Bashar" and "Hosni" to persist. During some of the conference sessions, Gaddafi tried to bring the two men together. I was surprised when Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul-Gheit approached me during one such session and said President Mubarak was waiting for President Assad "over there", gesturing towards the seat designated for Mubarak as head of the Egyptian delegation, adding that they would place a chair beside him for Assad so they could talk.
I suggested to Aboul-Gheit that the meeting would be more natural and dignified in one of the rooms prepared for such discussions nearby, but while Aboul-Gheit made efforts to propose my suggestion, these were unsuccessful, and President Mubarak refused to budge from his chair by even an inch.
Gaddafi then asked Ahmed Gaddaf al-Dam, who was supervising the Arab leaders travel arrangements, to arrange a symbolic meeting at least between the two presidents in the VIP lounge as they awaited their departure flights.
However, Mubarak ordered his entourage to head directly to his aircraft, skipping the VIP lounge where Abu-Bakr Yunis Jabr was waiting on Gaddafi's behalf to bid farewell to the heads of delegations. Assad was waiting for Mubarak in the lounge with Yunis, when Gaddaf al-Dam came and informed us in hushed tones that President Mubarak was being stubborn and had decided to go straight to his plane.
"King of Kings"
Muammar Gaddafi, the self-styled "King of Kings of Africa" - though never officially crowned – appeared to glide through this period in a state of constant euphoria. He had ended the previous year, 2009, basking in thunderous applause at the UN General Assembly, as I previously mentioned. Then in 2010, two Arab summits were held in his birthplace, Sirte, followed by a third summit the very next day. This was an African–Arab summit he had planned in advance and during which some European leaders also participated. Naturally, the leader of the September 1 Revolution had chaired all these summits and was their principal speaker, saying whatever he pleased without interruption or objection.
After the Sirte summit(s) had come to an end, I came across a sarcastic remark online about what had transpired there: "Sirte Summit: Stay where you are – in Sirte."
I wish that dry comment, despite its sarcasm, had truly captured the situation, although its writer obviously could not have realised that the Arab world would not remain where it was. Rather, it was about to be shaken to its core. No one would be able to erase the seismic events of 2011. History changes—but it doesn't end.
Farouk al-Sharaa is a Syrian politician and diplomat. He served as served as foreign minister from 1984 to 2006, then as vice president until 2014.
This is an edited translation from our Arabic edition. To read the original article click here.
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