Arab League to Seek U.N. Support for Syria Decisions, Asks Assad to Cede Power to VP
Arab foreign ministers meeting in Cairo on Sunday decided to go to the U.N. Security Council to seek its support for the Arab League’s decisions aimed at resolving the Syrian crisis.
The Arab League "has decided to go to the U.N. Security Council to seek its support for the Arab initiative and we're not seeking internationalization or a military solution," Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani, the head of an Arab taskforce on Syria, clarified after the meeting.
During the talks, aimed at discussing the fate of the widely criticized Arab observer mission in Syria, the ministers also called on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to "delegate his powers to the first vice president (Farouq al-Sharaa), who would have every prerogative to cooperate with a national unity government that would include the opposition. "
Such a government would be formed "within two months, and be presided over by a consensus candidate. Its mission would be to implement the Arab League plan to end the crisis, and to prepare free and fair legislative and presidential elections under both Arab and international supervision."
The national unity government would also prepare the election of a constituent assembly within three months and a new constitution which would be put to a referendum.
The League foreign ministers also recommended "continuing the observer mission in Syria and cooperation with the U.N. Secretary General to reinforce their task."
"Arab foreign ministers call for the release of detainees, a halt to all forms of violence and the facilitation of the observer mission’s work," Sheikh Hamad said.
"I urge the Syrian leadership to shoulder its responsibilities before God, its people and the Arab nation and to seek an end to the crisis," he added.
Earlier on Sunday, the Arab League taskforce headed by Sheikh Hamad met behind closed doors to be briefed on the first month of the monitoring mission by its chief, General Mohammed Ahmed Mustafa al-Dabi of Sudan.
The monitors’ report blamed both sides, the government and opposition, for the bloodshed, according to an Arab diplomatic source. It recommended an extension while cautioning that its observers would not be deployed indefinitely.
The Arab observer mission in revolt-hit Syria was launched a month ago.
In a statement late Saturday, Dabi said the mission's mandate was "to verify that the Syrian government has implemented the terms of an Arab League plan to solve the crisis, not to stop the bloodshed and violence."
But the opposition Syrian National Council has been lobbying for U.N. intervention and said it would reveal "a counter-report" later on Sunday to try to discredit Dabi's account.
The SNC said it also plans to send a delegation to the United Nations to press the Security Council for intervention.
International pressure has been steadily growing on the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, with more than 5,400 people killed since anti-government protests broke out last March, according to U.N. figures.
The Arab League deployed observers in Syria on December 26, and there are presently about 165 monitors on the ground.
The Local Coordination Committees, which organize anti-regime protests, said in a statement on Sunday that 976 people have since been killed in a bloody crackdown on dissent, despite the observer mission.
The SNC has appealed to the Arab League to turn the Syria crisis over to the United Nations. Its chief Burhan Ghalioun met on Saturday with Arabi to lobby for scrapping the observer mission.
Qatar has proposed that Arab troops be deployed in Syria, but Damascus rules out the proposal.
Source: Agence France Presse
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