Mubarak skips Arab League summit

Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak decides not to attend the upcoming Arab League summit in Doha and send a minor Cabinet official instead.

The country's Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul-Gheit did not cite any reason for Mubarak's absence from the summit and said Egypt would send a delegation to Doha, which hosts the key summit on March 30-31, the Egyptian state news agency MENA reported on Saturday.

Mubarak's decision comes as the 22-member Arab League is gearing up for the summit which aims to discuss key issues including inter-Arab reconciliation and the International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir.

"The challenges are big and the risks are great," said Qatari Foreign Minister Sheik Hamad bin Jassem Al Thani on Saturday.

The Arab League, the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) and the African Union (AU), as well as China and Russia, have condemned the ICC decision and called on the UN Security Council to use its power to suspend the ICC indictment of Bashir.

Israel's 22-day offensive on the Gaza Strip in December 2008 has caused major divisions among Arab countries. Egypt and Saudi Arabia had previously boycotted an emergency summit in support of Gaza convened by Qatar.