Arab League head backs disputed UN terror pact plan

[Behind the Aegis]

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The head of the 22-nation League of Arab States on Monday endorsed a definition of terrorism opposed by many Arab nations for inclusion in a long-stalled comprehensive U.N. treaty against terrorism.

The proposed definition, put forward by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, "could serve as the basis for consensus" in drafting the global pact, Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa said.

"This is a definition we can agree on," he told Reuters during a visit to U.N. headquarters.

Annan, speaking earlier in the day, said recent bombings in Egypt and Britain should give new life to the U.N. campaign to adopt the draft "comprehensive convention on international terrorism," which has been stuck in a U.N. committee since 1996 in a dispute over how to define terrorism and whether it should exclude Palestinian suicide bombings.

http://reuters.iwon.com/article/20050725/2005-07-25T224424Z_01_N2536433_RTRIDST_0_INTERNATIONAL-SECURITY-UN-TREATY-DC.html

[applegrove]

1. Good News finally.

[Igel]

2. I hope it's a reasonable one.

A definition that's either too broad or too narrow will be virtually useless for most purposes.

'He has suggested as a definition a simple statement branding any intentional maiming or killing of civilians as terrorism, regardless of the cause.'

Let it at least be a rigorous one, covering what most of most English speakers consider terrorism, and little of what most English speakers don't consider terrorism. Otherwise, I want them all out of my language.