Arab Envoys Fail to Heal Division Over Iraqi Invasion

Foreign ministers or envoys from all Arab nations except Iraq met Wednesday but failed in an effort to heal their division over the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.

Hard-liners in what was described as an informal session of the 21-member Arab League are calling for military action against Baghdad, while moderates back a diplomatic solution tied to the Palestinian question.

A formal meeting of the league will take place Oct. 22 at the group’s Cairo headquarters, officials said. In August the league’s representatives abandoned hope for a peaceful solution to the gulf crisis and called for dispatching Arab troops to the region.

Prince Saud al Faisal, foreign minister of Saudi Arabia, emerged grim-faced from the two-hour conference, flanked by an equally grim Prince Bandar ibn Sultan, Saudi ambassador to Washington.

Prince Saud told the U.N. General Assembly in a tough speech Tuesday that “there is no need for vacillation between word and deed” in carrying out the U.N. Security Council’s demand that Iraq withdraw unconditionally from Kuwait.