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Syriaâ€™s ambassador to AL says suspending Syriaâ€™s activities

12 November 2011 17:28 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Syrian Ambassador to the Arab League (AL) Yusuf Ahmad said on Saturday that the ALâ€™s latest decision to suspend Syriaâ€™s activities in the pan-Arab body is illegal and came in contravention to the AL principles, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

Ahmad made the remarks to the state-run TV, during which he accused the AL of acting out a foreign agenda by applying such decision.

He said that the suspension decision should be taken unanimously by all member states instead of by the majority.

A total of 18 member nations agreed on Saturday to suspend the activities of Syrian delegation in the pan-Arab body, while Lebanon, Yemen and Syria voted against it and Iraq abstained.

The 22-nation AL convened an emergency meeting in the Egyptian capital of Cairo on Saturday to weigh the possibility of undertaking stiffer measures against the Syrian government given its alleged breach of a peace plan reached between the two sides early this month to bring the months-old crisis to a close.

The suspension will take effect on Wednesday, or Nov. 16, Qatari Prime Minister Hamad bin Jasim al-Thani said in an official statement in Cairo.

The AL statement meanwhile called for its members to withdraw their ambassadors in Syria and urged sanctions on Damascus until the peace deal is implemented. It also called on the Syrian army to halt operations against civilians across Syria.

Ahmad said that the ALâ€™s emergency meeting was pushed by the United States and its allies to undertake a swift resolution against Syria, and by doing so, it ignored Syriaâ€™s welcome of a visit by AL delegation to the country to verify the reality of what is happening on the ground.

Syria welcomed on Friday an anticipated visit by an AL delegation, and in an official memo sent to the AL, Damascus reiterated its commitment to the Arab work plan and its seriousness about implementing the planâ€™s articles as it has already put most of them into effect.

"The visit of the AL mission to Syria will contribute to showing the reality of its commitment to the plan and revealing the motives and agendas of some internal and external sides which are seeking to foil the Arab work plan," said the memo.

Opposition figures have accused the government of not honoring its promises and that it is still harshly cracking down on protesters.

But the Syrian government denied such accusations and said it has initiated many goodwill steps to show its commitment to the AL plan, mainly a recent amnesty it has granted to hundreds of Syrians arrested during the unrest in the country, along with its pledge to withdraw its military vehicles from violence-hit areas in central Syria, as well as its approval to embark on dialogues with opposition figures to be supervised by Arab and international observers.