Syria has accepted an Arab League plan to send monitors to observe an uprising against President Bashar al-Assad and will sign a protocol to that effect, Iraq’s foreign minister said on Thursday. Syria’s acceptance of a proposal it has previously sought to amend appeared to be a last-ditch attempt to fend off sanctions being discussed by Arab foreign ministers meeting in Cairo. “Syria has agreed fully to the protocol,” Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari told reporters in Cairo. There was no immediate confirmation from Syria and Arab League officials could not be immediately reached for comment.
Meanwhile, Arab foreign ministers gathered in Cairo on Thursday to discuss imposing sanctions on Syria for failing to implement an Arab League plan to end a crackdown on protests against President Bashar al-Assad. The League, which for decades has spurned ordering action against a member state, has suspended Syria and threatened unspecified sanctions for ignoring the deal it had signed up to. Syria has turned its tanks and troops on civilian protesters, as well as on armed insurgents challenging Assad’s 11-year rule. The United Nations says more than 3,500 people have been killed. “Syria has not offered anything to move the situation forward,” said a senior Arab diplomat at the League, adding that it was considering what kind of sanctions to impose.
“The position of the Arab states is almost unified. We all agree … that the situation does not lead to civil war and that no foreign intervention takes place,” he said. Khaled al-Habasi, an adviser to Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby, said the body was “working on uniting the Syrian opposition on a vision regarding the future of Syria during the transitional period” and drawing up sanctions. Earlier this month, the League asked Syrian opposition groups to submit their ideas for a transition of power ahead of a planned bigger conference on Syria’s future.
These included imposing a travel ban on Syrian officials, freezing bank transfers or funds in Arab states related to Assad’s government and stopping Arab projects in Syria, he said. France called on Wednesday for a “secured zone to protect civilians” in Syria, the first time a major Western power has suggested international intervention on the ground.
After the uprising erupted in Libya, the League suspended Tripoli and also called for a no-fly zone that paved the way for a U.N. Security Council resolution and NATO air strikes. Arabs have shown no appetite so far for following a similar route with Syria, which neighbours Israel and lies on the faultlines of several interlocking conflicts in the Middle East.
Meanwhile, facing its worst economic crisis, Syria is banking on boosting self-sufficiency to overcome sanctions, Economy Minister Mohammed Nidal al-Shaar said in an exclusive interview Thursday.
“This is not an easy crisis. It’s the worst in our recent history because it is immediately affecting the Syrian citizen — it’s affecting the street, it’s affecting factories, it’s affecting the business community,” Shaar said. “It’s affecting everyone and this is definitely not fair at all.” “We don’t expect all Arab countries to yield or participate in sanctions,” he added. “In fact, we are almost certain that some Arab countries will not participate.” But as sanctions close in on the regime of Bashar al-Assad, Shaar is adamant Syria can look inwards for a way out. “What we need today is to make ourselves more efficient in our self-sufficiency by distributing more efficiently our resources and factors of production, by better management of our trade and factories,” he said.
