Gulf Arabs quit Syria monitoring mission

BEIRUT, (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia’s Gulf allies
joined Riyadh today in pulling out of an Arab League
monitoring team to Syria, risking the collapse of a mission
whose presence has not halted more than 10 months of violence.
Envoys to the Cairo-based League will meet later in the day
to discuss whether to call off the whole mission, Sudan’s
ambassador to the 22-member body said.
“The meeting of representatives today will discuss the fate
of the monitoring mission, whether it continues or withdraws,”
the envoy, Kamal Hassan Ali, told Reuters.
Syria is becoming an Arab and international pariah for its
harsh response to an uprising against President Bashar al-Assad
in which thousands of people have been killed.
The Arab League demanded on Sunday that Assad step down in
favour of a unity government to end the bloodshed, but said Arab
observers should stay in Syria for another month.
Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said at the time his
country was quitting the mission because Syria had not
implemented any part of an Arab peace plan agreed in November.
“The GCC states have decided to respond to the decision of
the kingdom of Saudi Arabia to withdraw its monitors from the
Arab League delegation to Syria,” the six-nation Gulf
Cooperation Council said in a statement.
It said the GCC was “certain the bloodshed and killing of
innocents would continue, and that the Syrian regime would not
abide by the Arab League’s resolutions”.
The Arab League’s demand for a change of government in Syria
puts more pressure on the U.N. Security Council to overcome its
divisions and take a stand on the bloodletting there.
In an initial response, an official Syrian source told the
state news agency SANA on Monday that the Arab initiative was a
“conspiracy against Syria” and “flagrant interference” in its
affairs.
The Arab observers deployed late last month to assess
Syria’s compliance with an earlier Arab League plan.
“There has been some progress, but there has not been
immediate or complete implementation as the Arab initiative
requires,” Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby said on Tuesday,
adding that he would name a special envoy to Syria this week.
A Syrian opposition group condemned the mission’s leader,
Sudanese General Mohammed al-Dabi, for a report in which he
highlighted violence by Assad’s adversaries as well as by his
security forces.