41.   Bahrain has said it will boycott the summit of the GCC, which also includes Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

42.   Bahrain has vowed to boycott the summit because of a dispute with Qatar over competing claims to the Hawar islands and sandbanks in the area.

43.   Bahrain said it was boycotting the summit because of a border dispute with the host country Qatar.

44.   Bahrain said last week that it would not reverse its decision to boycott the summit after it announced the arrests of two Qataris charged with spying.

45.   Both Damascus and Beirut are boycotting the summit.

46.   But Syria, a key Middle East peace player, and Lebanon were boycotting the summit.

47.   But Syria and Lebanon have announced they will boycott the summit, as they did its predecessor last year in Casablanca, Morocco.

48.   The outspoken foreign minister charged that Bahrain, which boycotted the summit because of its territorial dispute with Qatar, was deeply involved in a coup bid in February.

49.   Kinshasa has said it will boycott the summit, while Kigali will only send a junior minister.

50.   Mubarak finally said he was boycotting the summit in solidarity with Arafat, while there was no clear explanation from the Jordanians.