Arab League seeks common crisis and emergency centres, UAE conference told

Dr Nabil Elaraby, the secretary general of the Arab League, spoke at the opening of the fourth Crisis and Emergency Management Conference in Abu Dhabi.

ABU DHABI // The Arab League is working on establishing a network for regional countries to deal with emergencies and communicate during crises.

Dr Nabil Elaraby, the league’s secretary general, said that although there would be some challenges, a network would require common efforts to ensure swift political response and action.

“The Arab League, in the second phase of its project, is working towards establishing an Arab network that allows all Arab countries to network among themselves and communicate during crises around the Arab world,” he said at the opening day of the fourth Crisis and Emergency Management Conference in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday. He was speaking of the league’s establishment of an early intervention centre to strengthen the capabilities of countries to face any risks and emergencies.

It provided the necessary equipment as part of the project’s first phase.

“The Arab League was well aware of the need to prepare and develop programmes and centres,” he said. “We developed a specialised training programme for dealing with emergencies, the media and to foster and develop skills.”

The centre uses state-of-the-art technology to keep abreast of any developments in the world, allowing it to draft analytical reports and communicate with other agencies to exchange expertise.

“The Arab League also uses the centre as an operation room to follow up during elections and major events,” Dr Elaraby said. “It was used during the referendum on Egypt’s constitution.”

The secretary general is widening the scope of the centre in the next phase to develop its capabilities in crisis response and to help regional countries in addressing humanitarian and political events.

“Complex events require a need and ability to read and analyse all the information and to give decision-makers proper knowledge to make good decisions at good times,” he said. “That requires a rapid ability to gather information during crises and to assess a situation to guarantee effective response and provide good recovery.”

Mohammed Khalfan Al Romaithi, director general of the National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Authority, said no country in the world could consider itself immune or safe from risk.

“The risks that threaten us are not only natural,” he said. “They can also be man-made and, since most of them are transnational, they are similar in type, so most countries find themselves in a position where they need to cooperate and coordinate with each other, regionally and internationally.”

The Arab network will assist in translating all these efforts into capabilities and plans.

“They will require efficient strategies and policies that can help in limiting losses in the Arab world,” Dr Elaraby said. “But there are differences in systems and programmes used and the mandate given to these centres. There’s a difference in political analysis seeing as there is a difference in political views and strategies.”

He said it was difficult for various political centres to keep up to date with emergencies.

“We also don’t have swift political response and action,” he said. “Having an early intervention doesn’t necessarily mean there is an early political response and there is a lack of knowledge of all the partners that can be communicated with during emergencies and crises. That is why in operation rooms, officers spend a long time trying to find relevant people to communicate with during a crisis.”

He outlined a number of suggestions to adopt.

We must “formulate a clear protocol to deal with operation centres and to hold meetings between officials of operation rooms”, he said. We must “hold common training courses for dealing with emergencies, provide financial support and technologies to ensure best performance, to benefit from best practices and to exchange expertise with other agencies”.

He said Arab countries had to cooperate among themselves through the Arab network to face emergencies because these crises affect their economy. “I’d like to confirm the readiness of the Arab League to cooperate with all relevant agencies in the Arab world and to provide any possible capabilities to ensure and guarantee the benefits in the interest of all Arab countries,” he said.

“The management of crises, emergencies and disasters has gained importance and this is becoming more serious in the Arab world where regional, international and national risks lie.”