Yemen proposal to reform Arab League
SABA, Yemen News Agency, February 6, 2010

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.