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Rabat – Permanent Delegates at the Arab League Council called for de-escalation and diplomatic solutions in Ukraine during an emergency meeting held on Monday.
The meeting followed a request submitted by Egypt on Sunday. Kuwait chaired the meeting in Cairo, reported Hossam Zaki, Deputy Secretary-General of the League.
Commenting on the ongoing Ukrainian situation, Hossam Zaki stressed that the Secretary-General of the League is following the latest developments, urging for the “stop of escalation, not its fueling.”
Zaki stated that the Arab League understands the positions of Ukraine and Russia as they are friends to the league’s members. Thus the member states have urged “peace-loving states and organizations” to push for the return to dialogue to “solve the issue through diplomacy” with “respect of international humanitarian laws.”
As the Arab region is home to several conflicts, Zaki affirmed that they are fully aware of the “serious military and humanitarian consequences” of war.
The Arab League has expressed readiness to support international efforts that seek diplomatic and political solutions to the ongoing Ukraine-Russia crisis. As well, the league is supporting initiatives that provide humanitarian aid to the Ukrainian refugees fleeing to neighboring countries.
Read Also: Morocco Feels Impact of Conflict Between Russia and Ukraine
Under the EU’s temporary protection directive, Ukrainians can enter EU member states without undergoing the process of seeking asylum. Introduced in the 1990s after the Balkan wars, the directive “is an exceptional measure to provide immediate and temporary protection to displaced persons from non-EU countries and those unable to return to their country of origin.”
While the measure allowed thousands of Ukrainians to cross the borders to neighboring countries, Africans, including Moroccans, have waited in long lines in freezing weather with the hope to cross to safety. UNHCR reported today that 500,000 people fled Ukraine.
As of February 27, 251 Moroccans left Ukraine through land border passages, reaching a total of 436.
Morocco’s Foreign Ministry has coordinated with embassies in Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, and Romania to assist and facilitate border crossing for Moroccans coming from Ukraine. Royal Air Maroc has organized special flights to repatriate Moroccan students.
The discrimination against migrants in Ukraine dominated the discourse about the crisis with journalists and foreign policy and security experts comparing the Ukrainian situation to wars in the Middle East. Some commentators called Middle Easterners “uncivilized” referring to the situations in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria.
The future of the Ukrainian crisis remains unclear, with Putin declaring nuclear forces on high alert and the West increasing sanctions on Russia targeting banks and oligarchs.
As Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky announced yesterday the scheduling of talks with Russia on the Ukraine-Belarus border, the negotiations have started, reported Ukraine’s President advisor Mykhailo Podolyak to Reuters.
