Arab League threatens to turn to UN over Syrian crisis
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Xinhua, December 18, 2011
The Arab League has threatened to take the Arab peace proposal on Syria to the United Nations Security Council which may further complicate the situation in Syria, a country that plunged in a 10-month crisis.
The pan-Arab body gave the Syrian government two weeks to decide if it would accept the peace plan to end violence in Syria, otherwise the AL would refer the file to the United Nations.
The Arab League ministerial committee convened Saturday in Doha, Qatar, and assessed the Syrian response to the Arab plan to send observers into the country to monitor an end to the crackdown on protesters.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem has earlier sent a letter to the Arab League chief, Nabil al-Arabi, saying Damascus agreed to receive the observers with some reservations, which Syria said were "minor amendments."
Damascus said Arab sanctions on the country should be suspended ahead of signing the deal.
Reports said that five Arab League ministers drafted a resolution asking the U.N. Security Council to end violence in Syria.
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani who led the AL committee said "If the Syrian crisis is not solved within two weeks, the matter would be beyond the control of Arab countries."
Russia, which has circulated a U.N. Security Council resolution that aimed at resolving the crisis in Syria, urged the Syrian government to immediately sign the deal. A Russian delegation is expected to visit Damascus to discuss the issue with Syrian officials.
An Iraqi delegation held talks Saturday with President Bashar al-Assad and is expected to brief the Arab League the outcome of the meeting. Iraq tried to appease the unrest in Syria for fears that the violence might spill out over border to Iraq.
On Nov. 27, the Arab League approved sanctions against the Damascus authorities for failing to meet an ultimatum on the observer mission.
Syrian opposition accused Damascus of deliberately dragging its feet in signing the deal in a bid to gain more time to finish its crackdown on protesters.
President Assad, however, stressed on Saturday that Syria "has positively dealt with all suggestions presented to it, because it wants the world to know the reality of what is going on in light of the (media) distortion."
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