Member states of the Arab League
The Arab League has 22 member states.
The Arab League was founded in Cairo in 1945 by Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Transjordan (Jordan from 1946), and Yemen (North Yemen, later combined Yemen). There was a continual increase in membership during the second half of the 20th century, with additional 15 Arab states and 4 observers being admitted.
Israel is not a member despite 20% of its population being Palestinian Arab, nearly half the Jewish population being descended from Jews from Arab countries, and Arabic being an official language.
Chad is also not a member, despite Arabic being one of its two official languages, some 12% of Chadians identifying as Arab[1] and around 900,000 Arabic-speaking.[2]
The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic is not a member of the Arab League as it is recognized by only some Arab League states, while Western Sahara is recognized by the League as part of Morocco,[citation needed] which controls nearly 80% of the territory.
Iran is not considered part of the Arab world, as the majority of its population are Persian, with only 2% of its population being Arab.[3]
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Temporary suspensions [edit]
Egypt's membership was suspended in 1979 after it signed the Egyptian–Israeli Peace Treaty, and the League's headquarters were moved from Cairo to Tunis. In 1987, Arab League states restored diplomatic relations with Egypt, the country was readmitted to the League in 1989, and the League's headquarters were moved back to Cairo.[4]
The Libyan Arab Jamahiriya was suspended from the Arab League on 22 February 2011.[5] On 27 August 2011, the Arab League voted to restore Libya's membership by accrediting a representative of the National Transitional Council, which was partially recognised as the interim government of the country in the wake of Gaddafi's ouster from the capital of Tripoli.[6]
On 12 November 2011 the League passed a decree that would suspend Syria's membership if the government failed to stop violence against civilian protestors by 16 November amidst the 2011 uprising.[7] Despite this, the government did not yield to the League's demands.
Observer states [edit]
Four countries are observer states—a status that entitles them to express their opinion and give advice but denies them voting rights.[8] These are Eritrea, where Arabic is one of the official languages, as well as Brazil and Venezuela, which have large and influential Arab communities.[9] India is another observer to the Arab League.[8]
List of member states [edit]
| Country |
Admission date |
Capital |
Area (km²) |
Population (2010)[10] |
Official languages |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Algeria |
1962-08-16 | Algiers | 2,381,741 | 34,586,184 | Arabic |
 Bahrain |
1971-09-11 | Manama | 750 | 738,004 | Arabic |
 Comoros |
1993-11-20 | Moroni | 2,235 | 773,407 | Comorian, Arabic, French |
 Djibouti |
1977-09-04 | Djibouti | 23,200 | 740,528 | Arabic, French |
 Egypt |
1945-03-22 | Cairo | 1,002,450 | 80,471,869 | Arabic |
 Iraq |
1945-03-22 | Baghdad | 438,317 | 29,671,605 | Arabic, Kurdish |
 Jordan |
1945-03-22 | Amman | 92,300 | 6,407,085 | Arabic |
 Kuwait |
1961-07-20 | Kuwait city | 18,717 | 2,789,132 | Arabic |
 Lebanon |
1945-03-22 | Beirut | 10,452 | 4,125,247 | Arabic |
 Libya |
1953-03-28 | Tripoli | 1,759,541 | 6,461,454 | Arabic |
 Mauritania |
1973-11-26 | Nouakchott | 1,030,700 | 3,205,060 | Arabic |
 Morocco |
1958-10-01 | Rabat | 446,550 | 31,627,428 | Arabic, Tamazight |
 Oman |
1971-09-29 | Muscat | 309,550 | 2,967,717 | Arabic |
 State of Palestine[11] |
1976-09-09[12] | Jerusalem (proclaimed) | 6,040 | 4,260,636 | Arabic |
 Qatar |
1971-09-11 | Doha | 11,437 | 840,926 | Arabic |
 Saudi Arabia |
1945-03-22 | Riyadh | 2,149,690 | 25,731,776 | Arabic |
 Somalia |
1974-02-14 | Mogadishu | 637,661 | 10,112,453 | Somali, Arabic |
 Sudan |
1956-01-19 | Khartoum | 1,886,068 | 30,894,000 | Arabic, English |
| Syria a b | 1945-03-22 | Damascus | 185,180 | 22,198,110 | Arabic |
 Tunisia |
1958-10-01 | Tunis | 163,610 | 10,589,025 | Arabic |
 United Arab Emirates |
1971-12-06 | Abu Dhabi | 83,600 | 4,975,593 | Arabic |
 Yemen |
1945-05-05 | Sana'a | 527,968 | 23,495,361 | Arabic |
| a. Seat currently occupied by the Syrian National Coalition[13] |
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References [edit]
- ^ https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/cd.html
- ^ http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=TD
- ^ Library of Congress, Library of Congress – Federal Research Division. "Ethnic Groups and Languages of Iran". Retrieved 2009-12-02.
- ^ "Timeline: Arab League". BBC News. 17 September 2008. Retrieved 30 November 2009.
- ^ [1]
- ^ "Arab League Recognizes Libyan Rebel Council". RTT News. 25 August 2011. Retrieved 25 August 2011.
- ^ "Arab League Votes to Suspend Syria Over Crackdown". NYTimes.com. 12 November 2011. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
- ^ a b "India invited as observer for Arab League summit". Press Trust of India. 27 March 2007. Retrieved 13 June 2007.
- ^ David Noack: Syriens Beziehungen zu Lateinamerika, in: amerika21.de, 11.01.2011. (German)
- ^ "Country Comparison: Population". Retrieved 14 January 2011.
- ^ Arab League membership
- ^ The State of Palestine succeeded the seat of the Palestine Liberation Organization following the 1988 Palestinian Declaration of Independence.
- ^ "Syrian president slams Arab League for granting seat to opposition". Xinhua News Agency. 2013-04-06. Retrieved 2013-04-12.
- ^ "Arab League suspends Syria". CNN. 11/12/11. Retrieved 11/12/2011.
- ^ "Presentation of the Arab League". [2]. 2012-09-13. Retrieved 2013-04-15.
