Its headquarters are in Egypt and its secretary-generals have all been Egyptians except between 1979 and 1990 when Chedli Klibi from Tunisia became secretary-general after moving the organization’s headquarters to Tunisia in retaliation to the Camp David Peace Accord that was signed between Egypt and Israel. Why does the Arab League’s secretary-general have to be an Egyptian?

When looking at the time when the Arab League was formed in 1945, the whole world was in disarray. Japan was totally destroyed, China was a backward country, Europe was in ruins, the USSR was drowning in internal turmoil, South America was politically very unstable and the US was the new superpower looking for any friend with raw materials and a market for their products regardless of that country’s religion or skin color. American business is business itself.

The lands possessed by Arab nations have the oldest known civilizations. The Arab nations have the best fertile land and these include the Fertile Crescent, the lands adjoining Sudan’s rivers, Egypt’s Nile and Iraq’s rivers, Yemen and the Atlas Mountains. The Arab world has a strategic depth that no foreign enemy would dare to conquer. In 1945 Israel did not exist, so there is no political or military conflict between the Arabs and Israel that is keeping the Arab League countries distracted from developing their land and people.

Raw materials and oil were in abundance in the Arab world and oil is becoming the main drive behind any development. So, the Arab League nations had everything that the rest of the world didn’t have.

The Arab League had committees for political alliance, agriculture, education, defense and intelligence, etc. When you read about the doctrines of the Arab League, you would imagine that they talk as one voice. It is said that the British, out of good will, wanted the Arabs to rise and be one nation, and help them develop their way of life. It was the British who suggested the forming of the Arab League.

The Arabs should have started building infrastructure, developing their education systems and establishing transparent democratic systems. In 1945, the Arab world had about a 70-year head start ahead of the rest of the world.

What was the role of the Arab League? The Arab League is the least effective organization in the world. It was in hibernation when Egypt was violently attacking and toppling the government in Yemen in the 1960s. Egypt helped Iraqi and Libyan military dictators to overthrow stable prosperous monarchs in 1958 and 1969 respectively.

The Arab League was not aware of the constant threat of Egypt toward what they call the backward Arab Gulf States in the 1960s and the call by Gamal Abdul Nasser to overthrow the Arabian Gulf States. This is what the Arab League’s host country, Egypt, did to the Arabs.

What did the Arab League do in regard to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict or the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait? Where is the Arab League when Tunisia, Egypt and Libya are in total chaos? Is there a real need for such an organization?

We, the people of the Arab countries have never heard of a single Arab League meeting since 1945 to see why the Arab world has such a bad record in regard to education, unemployment, corruption, dictatorships, human rights abuse and poverty. The latest surprise to the disrespect of the Arab League came from its secretary-general, Amr Moussa, who went to Tahrir Square to protest against the Arab League’s president, Hosni Mubarak.

The Arab League’s secretary-general himself does not know what his role is. Shouldn’t he resign from his post first before going to Tahrir Square? It is like seeing NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen protesting in Brussels against Danish Queen Margrethe II.

— Abdulateef Al-Mulhim is commodore (retd.), Royal Saudi Navy. He can be contacted at: almulhimnavy@hotmail.com