Hashem Ahelbarra

Arab League: The house is a mess

Even when they meet to make big decisions about the future of their institution, the Arab League - and Arab leaders - are more divided than ever.

Reporters covering an Arab summit in the Libyan coastal city of Sirte are getting a glimpse of the fractious nature of the League.

Three main topics are on the agenda: the future of direct talks between the Palestinians and the Israelis, reform of the Arab League and extending an offer to Iran and Turkey to take part in future gatherings of Arab leaders.

But on these three main issues, differences are quite obvious. The follow-up committee struggled for two days to craft a statement backing president Abbas’s decision to abandon direct talks with the right wing government of Binyamin Netanyahu. What came of it was a statement vague in its wording, and offering different "alternatives" to the Arabs - if the impasse persists.

Divided on talks

Yemen: Ceasefire imminent?

A deal between Yemen and the country's Houthi fighters is in the offing, according to senior officials here in the capital Sanaa.

Major obstacles have been overcome, and an envoy is now meeting with Abdel Malik, the rebellion leader, to put the final touches on the agreement.

What happens next?

As soon as the deal is announced, a ceasefire will come into effect and the tough work will start. The Houthis should open main roads and checkpoints, abandon mountains they have occupied for months, return weapons captured from the army and free Saudi and Yemeni soldiers.

In exchange, the government will allow internally displaced people (IDPs) to return home and rebuild destroyed areas and villages.

Karzai's humiliation

President Karzai has suffered a public humiliation when 70% of his cabinet choices were ruled out by the parliament.

The rejection comes at a very crucial time for the country. The Taliban are gaining more ground, conducting daring attacks, like the suicide bomb attack at a CIA base in Khost province. Seven CIA operatives were killed.

The country is marred by instability, and a growing public mistrust of Nato forces, especially after the string of deadly attacks against civilians.

Eager to limit the impact of the damage made by the vote, Karzai’s dispatched his spokesperson Waheed Omar to reassure the Afghan people that things are still under control. He told the media that while the president was “surprised by the rejections”, he respects the process which he qualifies as “the beauty of democracy”.

Yemen's complex reality

The war in Saada is perhaps the most misunderstood conflict in the world. And the reason is the very complex tribal, religious and political make up of Yemen.

For centuries, Yemen had been shattered into a mosaic of kingdoms or sultanates - a Shia Zaidi Imamate in the north and Sunni Sultanates in the south. That order was upset in 1962, in a coup that put an end to the rule of Hamid Eddine, a Hashemite family that had ruled Northern Yemen since 1918.

In 1967, a radical Marxist movement created a Soviet-inspired state in the south. In 1990, the north and south united under Ali Abdallah Salih, a Shia Zaidi who has been ruling Yemen since 1978.

The Houthi rebellion started in 2004 when a member of a Hashemite family - the Houthis - took up arms against the government seeking more religious and cultural freedoms.