Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has rejected the idea of
dividing Arab countries into different camps of moderates and
extremists, the official SANA news agency reported on Saturday.
"I reject to be from the first camp or from the second camp. I
am from the Arab camp," Assad was quoted as saying in an interview
with the Kuwaiti al-Anba newspaper.
"I put myself with the Arabs, because some had tried to show
that Syria, through these camps, is out of the Arab camp, ... as an
Arab, I hope that we will not be divided into camps," the president
told the newspaper.
Meanwhile, Assad acknowledged that some disagreements remain
among Arab countries, saying that these should be respected and
resolved through dialogue.
"We should accept to have differences, and if the Arabs have
identical view points there is no need for them to meet," Assad
said.
It was reported that US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has
urged the "moderates" in the region to unite against the
"extremists" during her recent Middle East tour.
However, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has denied the
existence of an axis of moderate nations in the region, saying Rice
did not raise such issue during her talks with eight Arab foreign
ministers.
Egypt's official news agency MENA quoted Mubarak as saying that
Egypt rejected categorizing Mideast countries into moderate and
extremist ones while stressing Egypt's adherence to the policy that
aimed at bringing the Arab ranks closer.
(Xinhua News Agency October 8, 2006)
