HE Prime Minister and Arab League Chief Urge Syria to Sign Arab Protocol

Cairo, November 27 (QNA) - HE Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabor Al Thani and Arab League's Secretary General Nabil El Araby on Sunday called on Syrian leadership to sign the protocol document on sending Arab League's observers to Syria, as well as to respond to the Arab's plan that aimed at resolving the conflict in Syria and avoidance of international intervention. This was announced following an Arab ministerial meeting on the situation in Syria held today in Cairo, where the Arab League ratified economic sanctions against Syrian regime. In a joint press conference with El Araby, HE the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister said that 19 Arab states approved the sanctions, adding that Iraq expressed reservations while Lebanon abstained. "It was a sad day for me", His Excellency said while addressing the press briefing, expressing hope to see Syrian leadership taking steps to sing the protocol, stop the violence in the country, withdraw army from the Syrian cities and villages as well as start a national dialogue with the Syrian opposition and put an end to repression. "Syria is an important country in the region," HE Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim said, stressing the keenness of Arab states to solve the Syrian crisis through Arab efforts rather than through international intervention. He added that those involved in the meeting were keen to limit the impact of the sanctions on the Syrian people. He also said that the sanctions bore in mind not to disrupt the economy of other Arab countries. He said that Iraq had reservations relating to the carrying out of the sanctions as it feared it could hamper its own economy. He revealed that the Arab ministerial committee on Syria will hold a meeting in Doha next Saturday to look at the results referred by the technical and executive committee that has members from Qatar (as chair), Jordan, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Oman, Egypt, Morocco and Arab League. HE the Prime Minister noted that Turkey, whose Foreign Minister Ahmet Davut Ouglu was present in today's meeting, is committed to enforcing the minimum limit of sanctions announced today. On how effective will the sanctions be, His Excellency said that the most important issue is that the Syrian leadership understands that there is an Arab position that backs the Syrian people. Responding to a question regarding what the next move would be if the Syrian leadership did not respond to the pressure, HE the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister said that the Arab League is trying to solve the crisis through an Arab initiative. He added that if the Syrian leadership does not respond "there will be a responsibility on everyone as human beings to end the violence," he said. On whether the decision is binding to the Arab countries, HE the Premier said that the 19 nations that signed will carry it out immediately. He added that the goal is not to prevent important services to reach the Syrian people, but to apply pressure on the Syrian leadership to respond to the Arab initiative to end the conflict. On the possibility of having a GCC initiative similar to that on Yemen, HE the Prime Minister said that any initiative to end the crisis is welcome. However he said that the difference is that the Yemeni initiative stated that the Yemeni President leaves, while in the current one, His Excellency said, the Arab League is pleading with the Syrian government to cooperate. Responding to a question on whether Arab countries will provide aid in case Syrian leadership stop providing services to its people, HE Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani said that he hopes the situation does not develop to reach such a stage. On why the Arab League did not handle the conflict in Bahrain, His Excellency said that the victims of the events of Bahrain were "three or four" people. He also said that the Bahraini King called for an investigation and will punish those involved. "(The Bahraini King) responded to all the demands. That is not the case in Syria." For his part, Secretary General of the Arab League Dr. Nabil El-Araby said that the goal of the sanctions that were approved today was to pressurize the Syrian government to stop the bloodshed and push for needed reforms, renewing his call to the Syrian government to speed up the signing of the protocol on sending the observers, especially as it had declared its approval in principle and had identified the Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad to sign the protocol but backed away from that. He stressed on the need for these sanctions to be implemented as part of an Arab solution in order to avoid any foreign interference, and the need to take into account the interests of the Syrian people. El Araby said that if Damascus accepted to sign the protocol on observer mission, the matter will be put forward to a meeting of an Arab ministerial meeting. Responding to a question on the economic sanctions imposed on Syria, he said that these sanctions cannot be deemed as a diplomatic one. They are very strong sanctions and will have an impact on the Syrian regime, he added, saying that the move to impose them is a development in the way the Arab League functions. (QNA)