MANAMA, February 4 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Bahrain announced Tuesday, February 4, that the venue of the upcoming Arab summit, scheduled for March 24, would be relocated to the Egyptian capital Cairo.

Bahrain, which will still preside over the summit meeting, also backed a call to advance its date in view of the mounting American and British threats to wage war on Iraq, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"Bahrain has agreed to a proposal from the Arab League for the transfer of the summit to Cairo," Bahraini Information Minister Nabil al-Hamar said.

He added that his government also backed an Arab League plan "to bring forward the date of the summit following contacts carried out by League Secretary General Amr Moussa."

Arab diplomats in the Bahraini capital have said the summit could now take place March 1 or 2.

On Monday, February 4, diplomats in Cairo said there was a tendency to advance the summit date in light of a looming U.S.-led war on Iraq.

"It is absolutely necessary that the Arab summit be held, and it does not matter where, because of the importance of a joint Arab response to the serious situation facing the region," Moussa told the Cairo daily Al-Akhbar.

On Tuesday, Moussa expressed his "extreme pessimism" about the chances of avoiding a war, even though he put its likely costs at "tens of billions of dollars".

"The specter of war is hovering over the Arab world and threatening one of its main pillars," the League chief said in reference to Iraq.

He said he was "astonished by Western talk of bringing change to the region through war and destruction," saying it showed the Arab world "faced unprecedented challenges in the security, political, economic, social and moral fields".