Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi is considering a boycott of next week's Arab summit in Algiers and the hosts are leading efforts to persuade him to change his mind, Arab diplomats said Friday.
"President Abdelaziz Bouteflika is hoping to use his close relations with Kadhafi to convince him not to stay away," one diplomat told AFP.
The maverick Libyan leader has made headlines at the past two Arab summits.
Last year in Tunis, he stormed out of the opening session, telling reporters: "Libya feels obliged to boycott the Arab summit as it does not agree with the agenda."
Two years ago in Cairo, he had a blazing row with Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdel Aziz.
Once an ardent Arab nationalist, Kadhafi has voiced mounting exasperation with Arab politics in recent years and has reoriented Libyan foreign policy towards Africa, where he maintains close ties with post-apartheid South Africa.