Khartoum: The leaders of Libya, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Tunisia will skip the summit of the 22-member Arab League scheduled in Khartoum next week, an Arab League official told AFP.
King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia, Sultan Qaboos of Oman, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and Tunisian President Zine Al Abidine Bin Ali and will not attend the meeting on March 28-29 in the Sudanese capital, the official said on condition of anonymity.
The official did not elaborate on why they had decided not to attend their annual summit.
Other Arab leaders gather in Sudan over the next five days are hoping to limit any shortfall in international aid to the Palestinians when Hamas takes over the cabinet.
The United States and the European Union continue to make demands on Hamas, such as recognition of Israel and the renunciation of violence, Arab diplomats take some comfort from promises that financial aid to the Palestinians will continue.
Arab foreign ministers meet in the Sudanese capital Khartoum today and tomorrow to prepare for the annual summit of the Arab League's 21 members next week.
Leaders would agree that the world should not penalise Palestinians for voting for Hamas, which Israel and the United States call a terrorist group, Arab diplomats said.
The diplomats said it was not yet clear to what extent they would make specific commitments to compensate for any loss of funds to the budget of the Palestinian National Authority, which has previously received a large Western subsidy.
Since Hamas won parliamentary elections in the Palestinian territories in January, Arab governments have been telling the West that cutting off aid would lead to disaster.
"Our position is that the victory of Hamas was the result of a democratic process and so there should be no punishment for the Palestinian people," an Arab diplomat said.
"We have seen a retreat from some of the hasty reactions we saw in January. That's encouraging," he added.
Hamas leader Khalid Mesha'al said on Wednesday he had secured pledges of financial support during a tour of the Arab world and that Arab governments would give some numbers during the summit.
Sudan likely to be rewarded with presidency
Sudan, which has spared no expense to prepare its capital to host Arab leaders at a summit this week, is expected to be rewarded with the presidency of the Arab League and support on issues such as Darfur.
The atmosphere will be at sharp odds with a summit in Khartoum in January when African presidents spent most of their time arguing over how to prevent Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir from taking over the head of the African Union.
"Of course the host of the summit will be the president and in our opinion [the host] should have been the president of the African Union too," Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa, said in Khartoum.
