CAIRO, January 22, 2012 (AFP)
CAIRO, January 22, 2012 (AFP)
An Arab League panel has recommended that foreign ministers of the 22-member bloc extend its much criticized observer mission in Syria by a month when they meet later on Sunday, a League official said.
The panel held talks behind closed doors to hear a report on the first month of the monitoring mission from its chief, General Mohammed Ahmed Mustafa al-Dabi of Sudan, ahead of the decisive meeting of foreign ministers.
Dabi wants his mandate to be strengthened, not scrapped, another League official said earlier.
In a statement late on Saturday, the general 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 UN intervention and said it would reveal “a counter-report” later on Sunday to try to discredit Dabi’s account.
The SNC also said it plans to send a delegation to the United Nations to press the Security Council to intervene, arguing the mission has been ineffective in halting the bloodshed.
More than 5,400 people have been killed since anti-government protests broke out in Syria last March, according to UN figures.
