CAIRO, 10 September 2003 — Iraq’s foreign minister took his country’s Arab League seat yesterday and promised other members of the pre-eminent regional body they will soon have a democratic neighbor.

By simply sitting down at a circular table behind a small Iraqi flag, Hoshyar Zebari settled a two-month dispute within the pan-Arab organization over whether to recognize a body set up by US occupiers and took a first step toward gaining broad acceptance for his interim government.

“The new Iraq will be different from that of Saddam Hussein,” Zebari vowed in his first remarks to the league. “The new Iraq will be based on diversity, democracy, constitution, law and respect for human rights.”

Zebari, a Kurd, was stressing the multiethnic nature of Iraq, but also pledged to work with “Arab brethren,” earning applause from his audience of fellow foreign ministers.

“The new Iraq will stand firm against terrorism, from which it is now suffering,” Zebari added, referring to the series of car-bombings and shootings that have killed more than 100 civilians in recent weeks, including the UN envoy to Iraq Sergio Vieira de Mello. The other members of the 22-member league agreed to accept Zebari hours earlier after a late night, six-hour debate. Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher said the decision to admit Iraq had been “collective” without saying whether it had been unanimous.

League Undersecretary-General Ahmed bin Helli read out the resolution that granted provisional recognition to the Iraqi Governing Council, the US-appointed interim authority that chose the Cabinet to which Zebari belongs.

Bin Helli said Iraq’s interim government would be welcome for one year, after which the League would review Iraq’s progress toward forming a government. Bin Helli called on the interim Iraqi leadership to advise the league of its plans for drafting a constitution and forming a permanent government.

“I would like to stress that the Iraqi Governing Council will do its utmost for Iraq to return to being a fully sovereign, independent state,” Zebari said in his speech.

In addition to welcoming Zebari, the League made two other overtures to post-Saddam Iraq. It adopted a resolution condemning mass graves of victims of Saddam’s regime that have been unearthed since he was toppled, saying they were “a violation of international law and Arab and Islamic moral norms.” The foreign ministers also began discussing how they might participate in Iraq’s reconstruction.

Libya boycotted the meeting. Libya’s foreign minister, Abdel Rahman Shalgham, said in a message to the league secretariat that Tripoli was boycotting because “the meeting will take decisions which are not in harmony with Libyan positions.”