Conservative Arabs Reportedly Bar Libyan Demands

Conservative Arab states have blocked Libyan demands for economic sanctions and a diplomatic break with the United States, Arab diplomatic sources in Tunis, Tunisia, reported Wednesday.

The Libyan demands, contained in a resolution proposed to a meeting of Arab League foreign ministers, were cut out of the version passed late Tuesday night, the sources said.

The resolution that was adopted strongly condemned “American aggression against Libya” in military clashes in the region of the disputed Gulf of Sidra.

The unofficial text of the resolution would have also called on the United States to withdraw its fleet from the area at once.

Kuwait and Jordan--which feel threatened both by the radical example of the Libyan regime and the Shia Muslim fundamentalist appeal that Iran exerts in the region--had expressed reservations over the withdrawal call.

Meanwhile, Arab diplomats and newspapers expressed fear that, in the words of one envoy, “the Americans are turning (Col. Moammar) Kadafi into an Arab hero par excellence.”

The Arab League session, which began Monday, continued Wednesday with debate on cooperation between African and Arab states.

The twice-yearly session, which is attended by 15 foreign ministers of the 21-member league, also adopted a resolution on the Iran-Iraq War on Tuesday, calling for a several-times-postponed Arab summit meeting to be convened urgently to discuss the 5 1/2-year-long war in the Persian Gulf.