Libya Announces, but Iraq Denies, Arab Summit Delay

Libya said an Arab League summit set for March 29 has been put off, but Iraq, which is hosting the event, denied the claim, saying on Friday that postponement was not "an individual decision."

The official Libyan news agency Jana reported on Thursday that the presidency of the Arab League summit had decided to push back the Baghdad meeting in light of turmoil across the Arab world.

Libya currently holds the Arab League's rotating presidency.

But Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said Friday that no request for a postponement had been submitted to the 22-member pan-Arab organization.

"No. It's not true," he said in response to the Libyan statement. "It is not an individual decision to be taken by a single country."

Arab leaders had announced on Monday their annual summit for March 29 after popular uprisings ousted the leaders of Egypt and Tunisia and changed the political landscape of the region.

The summit would be the first in Baghdad since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003.