Cairo- On Thursday evening, March 10, Egypt’s ex-foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit, after long consultations and debates was appointed the eighth Secretary-General of the League of Arab States noting that the vote was delayed for hours due to Qatari reservations.

The decision was taken following a meeting in Cairo the extraordinary session of the Ministerial Council of the regional community.

In a communiqué read by Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Khaled bin Ahmed al Khalifa, it emphasized that the participants «General consent» schedule submitted by Egypt of a candidate from 1 July 2016 the Secretary-General for a term of five years.

They also formally asked acting Secretary General Nabil al-Arabi «to serve until the transfer of authority».

Qatari Minister Mohammed bin Abdel Rahman al Thani, said that he supported the consensus, “but with reservations”. According to him, his country has agreed, in an effort to support consensus.

As reported, the rejection of the Qataris was caused by a number of long-standing but deeply entrenched resentment of the Egyptian diplomat, thus they demanded an apology for his «unjustified criticism» against Doha.

Claims for candidacy of Aboul Gheit also found the delegation of the Sudan, because of statements that he voiced when he was the head of the Foreign Ministry, in particular, in Darfur.

After the new Secretary General takes off his post in July, he will make a tour in Qatar, Sudan and other Arab States to normalize relations with them.

“This trip will also seek to resolve the tension between Egypt and these countries,” said a diplomatic source.

Moreover, Aboul Gheit is seeking to study all the matters that tackle Arab states and contain information of all what threaten them.

Asharq Al-Awsat knew from sources close to the new Secretary General that he is keen to listen from all Arab officials for each matter of common concern and try to save what is left of Syria, Libya and contain any misunderstanding in relations between Egypt and Sudan.