CASABLANCA : Picking Up the Pieces

Efforts to promote economic and political integration in North Africa got left by the wayside in the chaos of the Persian Gulf war, but now that the dust has settled, the region’s five heads of state will convene Sunday to try to set their house in order.

First on the agenda for the Arab Maghreb Union summit in Casablanca, Morocco, will be deciding what to do about the upcoming Middle East peace conference: Does the Maghreb want to accept U.S. Secretary of State James A. Baker III’s invitation to send a representative, and if so, who will it be?

Coming to consensus might be tricky. Only one of the Maghreb states, Morocco, dispatched troops to join the U.S.-led coalition fighting Iraq in the Persian Gulf last year.