Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil al-Arabi was elected as the new Arab League chief on Sunday. The announcement of his candidacy came after Egypt withdrew diplomat Mustafa al-Fikki from the race just moments before voting for the head of the 22-member body was due to begin.
"The Arab world is going through many crises. We must all stand together and find solutions," Arabi said,according to AFP. Fikki had faced strong opposition both on the Egyptian street and from within the league because he served the ousted regime of President Hosni Mubarak, sources said.
Arab foreign ministers had gathered in Cairo earlier on Sunday to start discussions on who would succeed Amr Mussa as the new secretary general of the pan-Arab body.
