Egypt's foreign minister is Arab League chief

Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil El-Arabi has been unanimously elected as Arab League's new Secretary General, taking on a challenging task at a time when the region is witnessing political upheaval.El-Arabi replaces Amr Moussa, 73, who is running for the post of Egyptian president after leading Arab League for a decade. El-Arabi, who backed the uprising against longtime Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, was chosen by consensus yesterday after Qatar withdrew its choice Abdel-Rahman al-Attiyah for the top post.Qatari Foreign Minister Hamad bin Jassim said his country withdrew its candidate, diplomat Abdul Rahman bin Hamad al-Attiyah, "in appreciation of Egypt and the revolution of January 25."

The choice of El-Arabi went into effect and became final after Egypt received the OKs of the Arab heads of state and the foreign ministers. Earlier, Egypt had nominated Mustafa al-Fiqi, head of the foreign affairs committee at the Egyptian parliament before it was dissolved.The nomination was crticized by many people who described al-Fiqi as a cornerstone of the old regime and hence should have been toppled with the regime when it fell after 25th January revolution.
Egypt then withdrew the nomination of Al-Fiqi and presented the name of El-Arabi.