YEMEN PROPOSAL TO REFORM ARAB LEAGUE

CAIRO. Feb. 06 (Saba) - Yemen has put forward a proposal for the
establishment of an Arab Union as a replacement for the Arab League
that would be discussed by Arab Foreign Ministers in an early March
meeting as a prelude to sending it to the Arab Leaders' Summit in
late March.

The proposal was drafted in an initiative form to reform the Arab
League.

In the initiative, Yemen suggested a draft constitution for the
union that should contain 37 articles based on principles such as
respecting sovereignty and regional borders of countries, respecting
the unity of a member state's national soil, the right of a country
to choose its ruling system, dis-recognizing taking office through
force, and establishing an Arab security system to protect the
member states and contribute to boosting international peace and
security, the Egyptian Al-Shorouk newspaper quoted an official at
the Arab League as saying.

The initiative also identified a number of frameworks and
organizational structures of the union including a supreme council
to comprise of kings, presidents and princes of the member states
that should be responsible for decision-making, setting out general
policies, and approving recommendations and decisions sent by lower
councils.

The presidency of the council should be on year-rotation bases.

There should also be five ministerial councils including a defense
and security council with its members picked from Interior
Ministries and Chiefs of Staffs of member states that would be
responsible for drawing up joint defense plans, forming a joint
peacekeeper force and unifying training and armament systems of them
as well as boosting security coordination among them.

Yemen also suggested in its initiative to set up an Arab Justice
Court that does its duties according to a basic system approved by
the union and a jury to be responsible for resolving commercial
disputes through arbitration.

The initiative also calls for an Arab central bank and an Arab
development bank to finance developmental projects and achieve a
common market for Arab economic integration.

A technical and administrative council was suggested as well.

The union would replace the Arab League once its constitution is
approved and the league's secretariat general will run it during a
year-long transitional period in which the Foreign Minister Council
of the league will have completed the components of the union
according to the constitution.

FR