Enlargement of the Arab League

The Arab League was established in 1945 with 7 founding states, with Egypt at the helm, and today the League has 22 members. The League witnessed 11 enlargements, with the largest in 1971 with four members of the Arab states of the Persian Gulf joining the League.

Future enlargements

Future enlargements are not clear now, with only four Arabic-speaking countries remaining out of the League. Of these, only Eritrea is an observer, and is the most possible next candidate for the Arab League's next enlargement, it needs to improve its relations with other neighboring Arabs states, including Djibouti, Sudan and Somalia. Another possible member is Chad.

Due to a clause in the Charter of the Arab League that accords the right of territories that have splintered off from an Arab League member state to join the organization, the nascent South Sudan has been assured full membership in the Arab League should the country's government choose to seek it. However, a representative of the South Sudanese administration indicated that South Sudan would not be joining the League since the government believes that the territory does not meet the pre-conditions necessary for inclusion; specifically, that "the League requires that the countries must be Arabic speaking countries that consider Arabic language...
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