EU-Arab League summit in doubt over fears Assad might show up

A landmark EU-Arab League summit due in February is in doubt after European diplomats expressed concern that Syrian regime head Bashar al-Assad could attend.

European leaders first announced the summit last year as part of an EU alliance to fight migrant smuggling, with the meeting due to be hosted by Egypt on 24-25 February in Sharm el-Sheikh.

The summit between the 28 EU member states and Arab League states is part of a broader push to build closer ties with Africa and would also seek to create jobs and a free trade deal, EU officials said last year.

But on Friday EU diplomats expressed concern that Syria could be invited back into the Arab League, with European leaders unwilling to sit down alongside Assad if he attended the summit, sources told The Associated Press.

Syria was expelled from the 22-member Arab League soon after war broke out in 2011, but several Arab states are now seeking to restore ties with Assad after his forces made decisive gains in the conflict.

Efforts to bring Assad's regime back in from the cold are likely to intensify in the run up to the next Arab League summit to be held in Tunis in March, with Gulf nations reportedly moving to readmit Syria.

The EU would also prefer to chair the February meeting with host country Egypt, rather than the current presidency of the Arab League, Saudi Arabia, sources told AP.

Final preparations for the summit in Egypt will be made by EU ministers on 4 February.

Sparked by the brutal repression of anti-Assad protests in 2011, the Syrian conflict has killed more than 360,000 people and displaced millions.

Agencies contributed to this report.