Arab League looks into UN help in Syria

The foreign ministers of the Arab ministerial committee for Syria or their representatives (e.g., Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, Oman, Sudan and Algeria) will discuss on Sunday in Cairo whether they will request U.N. assistance in carrying out the Arab mission in Syria.           

Arab League sources told Reuters that the proposal submitted by Qatar invites U.N. technicians and human rights experts to provide assistance to the monitors. The sources added that the league might request that the U.N. staff be Arab nationals.         

According to the same sources, the meeting will deliberate the monitors’ initial report and discuss measures to allow the mission to work more independently from the Syrian authorities.         

The sources added that the Arab ministerial committee’s meeting will most likely confirm support for the monitors and respond to the calls to put an end to what Syrian activists are calling an inefficient mission that only aims to give President Bashar Assad more time to repress his opponents.         

Monitors pursued their mission in Syria and the Associated Press published photos taken of them on Saturday while packing their belongings in a Syrian hotel, the news agency reported that their destination is not yet clear. The Arab League’s assistant Secretary General Adnan al-Khudeir said that withdrawing monitors is not on the committee meeting’s agenda.         

Khudeir told AFP that the Arab countries’ request to the general secretariat is to support the monitoring mission by augmenting its numbers.             

“Palestine, Mauritania and Somalia called for sending fresh monitors that will arrive this week in Damascus” Khudeir said, adding that, “the number of Syrian monitors on the ground in Syria will reach 163 following the arrival of 10 Jordanian monitors”.