Chad is not a member despite Arabic being one of its two official languages, some 12% of Chadians identifying as Arab[1] and around 900,000 are Arabic-speaking.[2] It applied for membership in March 2014.
Five countries are observer states—a status that entitles them to express their opinion and give advice but denies them voting rights.[9] These are Eritrea, where Arabic is one of the official languages, as well as Brazil and Venezuela, which have large and influential Arab communities.[10]India is another observer to the Arab League, with a sizable amount of people claiming Arab descent.[9]Armenia was granted observer status in 2004.[11]
1953 (first enlargement) – Libya joins the Arab League after two years of independence.
19 January 1956 (second enlargement) – Sudan joins the League, two weeks after its independence from the UK and Egypt.
1 October 1958 (third enlargement) – Morocco and Tunisia join the League, two years after independence.
20 July 1961 (fourth enlargement) – Kuwait joins the League after 31 days of independence, and becomes the first Asian state to join the League after the founding nations.
16 August 1962 (fifth enlargement) – Algeria accedes to the League, less than two months after its independence.
1967 (sixth enlargement) South Yemen joins the League upon its independence.
1971 (seventh enlargement) – The largest enlargement with four Arab members joining the League, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar and Bahrain.
26 November 1973 (eighth enlargement) – Mauritania joins the League after thirteen years of independence.
14 February 1974 (ninth enlargement)- Somalia joins the League after fourteen years of independence.
9 September 1976 (tenth enlargement) – Palestine joins the League.
4 September 1977 (eleventh enlargement) – Djibouti joins the Arab League two months before its independence from France that same year.
1993 (twelfth enlargement) – The Comoros accede to the League.
January 2003 – Eritrea joins the League as an observer.
2003 – Brazil joins the League as an observer for one summit.
September 2006 – Venezuela joins the League as an observer for one summit.
April 2007 – India joins the League as an observer state for the summit.
June 2011 – South Sudan gains independence from Sudan, but does not join the League.[12]
Expansion ambitions
Only three Arabic-speaking countries remain outside of the League: Chad, Eritrea, and Israel. Additionally, there are also two other Arabic-speaking states with limited recognition – Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic and Somaliland – but their disputed status, being claimed by League members Morocco and Somalia respectively, makes their membership unlikely for the foreseeable future. Due to a clause in the Charter of the Arab League that accords the right of territories that have succeeded from an Arab League member state to join the organization,[13] the nascent South Sudan, which declared its independence from member state Sudan in July 2011, has been assured full membership in the Arab League should the country's government choose to seek it.[14] Alternatively, the nation could opt for observer status.[15]
To be considered for membership, Eritrea needs to improve its relations with other neighboring members of the organization, including Djibouti, Sudan and Somalia. Chad's candidacy was endorsed by the Egyptian government under Hosni Mubarak in 2010;[16] Chad applied for membership on 25 March 2014.[17]
A representative of the South Sudanese administration indicated that South Sudan would not be joining the League since the government believes that the territory does not meet the pre-conditions necessary for inclusion; specifically, that "the League requires that the countries must be Arabic speaking countries that consider Arabic language the main language of the nation; on top of that, the league also requires that the people of that particular country must believe that they are actually Arabs. The people of Southern Sudan are not of Arabic origin, so I don't think there will be anybody in Southern Sudan who will consider joining the Arab League".[18] In an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, the Foreign Minister of South Sudan Deng Alor Kuol said: South Sudan is the closest African country to the Arab world, and we speak a special kind of Arabic known as Juba Arabic.[19] Sudan supports South Sudan’s request to join the Arab League.[20] South Sudan submitted an application for observer status in March 2018.[21][22]
Suspensions
Egypt - Egypt's membership was suspended in 1979 after it signed the Egypt–Israel 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.[23]
Libya - Libya was suspended from the Arab League on 22 February 2011.[24] 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.[25]
Libya's membership was suspended on 22 February 2011, following the start of the Libyan Civil War and the use of military force against civilians.[26] That makes Libya the second country in the League's history to have a frozen membership. Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi declared that the League was illegitimate, saying: "The Arab League is finished. There is no such thing as the Arab League".[27][28] On 25 August 2011, Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby announced it was "about time" Libya's full member status was restored. The National Transitional Council, the partially recognised interim government of Libya, sent a representative to be seated at the Arab League meeting on 17 August to participate in a discussion as to whether to readmit Libya to the organisation.[29]
Syria - On 20 September 2011, the Arab Parliament recommended suspension of Syria and Yemen over persistent reports of disproportionate violence against regime opponents and activists during the Arab Spring.[30] On 12 November 2011, the League passed a decree that would suspend Ba'athist Syrian Arab Republic's membership if the government failed to stop violence against civilian protesters by 16 November 2011 amidst the uprising.[31] Syria, Lebanon and Yemen voted against the motion, and Iraq abstained.[32] Despite the opportunity, the Syrian government did not yield to the League's demands, resulting in its indefinite suspension.
There was criticism after the Arab League sent in December 2011 a commission "monitoring" violence on people protesting against the regime. The commission was headed by Mohammad Ahmed Mustafa al-Dabi, who served as head of Omar al-Bashir's military intelligence, while war crimes, including genocide, were allegedly committed on his watch.[33][34][35]
On 6 March 2013, the Arab League granted to the Syrian National Coalition Syria's seat in the Arab League.[36] On 9 March 2014, the pan-Arab group's secretary general Nabil al-Arabi said that Syria's seat at the Arab League would remain vacant until the opposition completes the formation of its institutions.[37]
^"The World Factbook". Cia.gov. Archived from the original on 26 November 2016. Retrieved 10 January 2016. ((cite web)): Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
^"Chad". Ethnologue. 19 February 1999. Retrieved 10 January 2016.
^El-Husseini, Asmaa (7 July 2011). "Hoping for the best". Al-Ahram. Archived from the original on 11 July 2011. Retrieved 8 July 2011. ((cite news)): Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
^Kenner, D. (27 December 2011). "The World's Worst Human Rights Observer". Foreign Policy. As Arab League monitors work to expose President Bashar al-Assad's crackdown, the head of the mission is a Sudanese general accused of creating the fearsome "Janjaweed," which was responsible for the worst atrocities during the Darfur genocide.
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