Arab Group Won't Recognize Iraqi Council

CAIRO, Egypt - Arab League members will not recognize Iraq (news - web sites)'s U.S.-appointed Governing Council and instead will wait until post-Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) Iraq is led by an elected government, league Secretary-General Amr Moussa said Tuesday.

"The Council is a start but it should pave the way for a legitimate government that can be recognized," Moussa said after a committee of league foreign ministers met to forge a unified stance on how to deal with Iraq after Saddam.

Many Arab governments had welcomed the council's formation as a positive step but fell short of recognizing it as a legitimate Iraqi government, saying it would have had more credibility if had been elected by the Iraqi people. Tuesday's decision means that Iraq's seat at the 22-member league will remain vacant until a new government is elected.

Few other league members can claim to be led by democratically elected governments. The Arab League's 22 members include the Palestinian Liberation Organization, which is not a state, and Somalia, which has no internationally recognized government.

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