DAMASCUS (AFP) – The Arab League threatened on Saturday to take Syria to the UN for procrastinating over its deadly crackdown on dissent, as an Iraqi mediator reported “positive” talks aimed at defusing the crisis.
In Doha, Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad Ben Jassem Al Thani accused Damascus of “procrastination” over an Arab League proposal to send an observer mission to Syria.
He spoke after an Arab ministerial committee proposed taking the Arab League plan to end the nine-month-long crisis in Syria to the UN Security Council.
The bloc’s foreign ministers will meet in Cairo on Wednesday to discuss the proposal, he said.
The ministers met in Doha a day after Russia proposed a surprise draft resolution to the council.
“As Russia has gone to the Security Council, a proposal will be presented in the [Arab ministers’] meeting on December 21 that the Arab League go to the Security Council to present the Arab initiative,” Sheikh Hamad said.
He said the move is aimed to “adopt the Arab decisions, instead of that of other countries”.
Sheikh Hamad, who is also Qatar’s foreign minister, said: “There is no hope to find an exit from this crisis. We have used all possible means, [but] it is clear that there is procrastination.”
He warned that the Arab League would take Syria to the UN Security Council if it persisted in refusing to allow observers into the country to monitor the protection of civilians.
The 22-member Arab bloc has been trying to persuade Damascus to receive observers to monitor the situation as part of a plan to end the bloodshed.
On November 27, the Arab bloc approved a raft of sanctions against Syria for failing to heed an ultimatum to admit observers.
Note by the editor: It is not a sign of strength of the Arab League if they have to ‘pass the buck’ to the United Nations. Arab nations (and Muslim nations) should solve their own problems without outside interference!
Demonstrators protesting against Syria’s President Bashar Assad gather after prayers in Maarrat Al Numan, near Idlib, on Friday (Reuters photo)
Categories: Asia, Middle East, Syria, War
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