Tunis, March 28 (Reuters): Egypt stepped in today to host an Arab summit after Tunisia stunned the Arab world with a unilateral decision to scrap the meeting on its soil, citing the reluctance of some countries to embrace democratic reform.

Delegates to the Tunis summit, which would have opened tomorrow, disputed the Tunisian explanation, saying Tunisian President Zine el-Abdine Ben Ali was unhappy that some Arab leaders did not plan to attend, and wanted to prove his democratic credentials to the US.

Egypt expressed “astonishment and regret” at the Tunisian decision. The summit had been expected to talk about reform, Iraq and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“Egypt welcomes holding a summit conference in the country of the (Arab League) headquarters at the earliest time that can be agreed,” said an Egyptian presidency statement. The headquarters of the 22-member Arab League is in Cairo.

Tunisia hit back at Cairo’s offer, saying a change in venue was no solution and it reserved the right to be host.

“Trying to change the place is to hide the real reasons which lie behind the decision to postpone...Tunisia stands by its right to host the summit which will look into these matters (democratic reforms),” the Tunisian foreign ministry said in a statement attributed to an anonymous official.

Syria said the Tunisian decision was unjustified and Jordan’s foreign minister Marwan al-Muasher also cast doubt on the need for the Tunisians to back out as hosts. “In any summit there are differences of views but that does not mean that the summit was not well on its way to a successful conclusion,” he told CNN.

The Tunisian government news agency said Tunisia had insisted that the summit explicitly endorse democracy and reject what it called “extremism, fanaticism, violence and terrorism” — and that other countries had balked at this.

But a Gulf delegate linked the Tunisian decision to Ben Ali’s stormy visit to Washington in February when President George W. Bush told him he wanted to see a free press and an “open political process” in Tunisia.

Many of the delegates who were in Tunis with foreign ministers to prepare the summit insisted there had been little or no arguing, and that talks on a communique had gone well.

“It’s all about the Tunisian approach to the US, the Tunisian attempt to win US favour,” said an Arab diplomat who attended the last two days of preparatory meetings. “Ben Ali was asked to deliver a certain scenario at the summit and, when it was clear that he couldn’t deliver, the Tunisians announced they were calling it off,” said the Gulf delegate, citing a report from his foreign minister.

The summit preparations had been in trouble for some time because some Arab leaders were reluctant to attend and some had decided to send relatively low-level delegations.

Leaders of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman and the United Arab Emirates planned to send deputies. Diplomats said some Arab leaders were worried the summit could not meet Arab popular demand for decisions on issues such as the Iraq occupation and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.