Arab League head hopes Libya remains member

Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa said he wanted Libya to remain in the 22-member organisation, Egypt's official Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported yesterday.

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi walked out of an Arab League summit on Saturday in protest at the meeting's agenda which he said did not correspond to the agenda of ordinary Arabs.

"Amr Moussa said he hoped Libya would not pull out of the Arab League... He confirmed that Libya was an important member of the Arab League," MENA reported.

"We expect the Arab lines to remain unified in the shadow of the dangerous circumstances the region faces," MENA quoted Moussa as saying.

The maverick Libyan leader did not immediately pull his country out of the league but said he hoped Libya's local councils, which theoretically decide Libyan policy, would agree to a withdrawal.