Arab League Chief Praises Qatar's Active Foreign Policy

Cairo, January 14 (QNA) - Arab League Secretary-General Dr. Nabil al-Arabi said the State of Qatar is leading "a very active" foreign policy aimed at solving a various Arab issues. The Qatari policy is trying to address the current issues in a" true way", al-Arabi told Qatar News Agency (QNA) in Cairo, adding that this role has been accepted during the Arab League's meetings, which is "great." On the real intention to internationalize the Syrian crisis, Dr.al Arabi said the Arab League is now acting based on the fact that Syria has admitted the implementation of certain obligations. He added that there a number of decisions requiring a necessary coordination between the AL Secretary-General and the UN Secretary-General. However, al-Arabi did not give any details about what can be decided during the next meeting of the AL foreign ministers, which will discuss the findings on January 19-20. He added that the Arab League observers have found that the Syrian regime did not implement in full its commitments therefore it was necessary to support them in a real and effective way, or to look for other options. On President Bashar al-Assad's speech, which has strongly criticized the Arab League, Dr.al -Arabi said he never comments on presidents' speeches, adding that he had asked for a full report from the head of the AL observer mission, Mohammad Ahmad Mustafa al-Dabi on the latest developments as soon as possible. However al-Arabi admitted that a number of mistakes were made while dealing with the Syrian crisis due to the different views of the former 22 AL foreign ministers (now 21). " Reaching a unique resolution is not easy and takes time," said al-Arabi, who explained that as a regional organisation, the Arab League does not have the right to impose its views in the member states, noting that the AL resolutions are not binding on states which vote against them. The only international body, which has an enforcement mechanism, is the UN Security Council, added al-Arabi. On the role of the Arab League in light of the latest developments in Yemen, the AL chief said the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) has mediated an end to the Yemeni crisis through an initiative, which was signed by President Ali Abdullah Saleh; the intervention of the AL would at some point disrupt the efforts being exerted by the GCC. " I has proposed the Arab League's support for Yemen during a phone call held with the Yemeni Prime Minister since few days, who informed me about his plan to pay a tour in a number of GCC countries before visiting Cairo to further discuss this proposal," al-Arabi told QNA. On the chances of resuming the Middle East peace process, he said " "in my view the peace process was born dead," calling for international " pressure" on Israel to make peace with the Palestinians. He explained that the Arab League has no diplomatic relations with Israel, renewing his call to hold an international conference aimed at discussing means of achieving a" just peace" in the region. (QNA)