An Arab League task force agreed upon sanctions against Damascus in a meeting in Cairo on Sunday as President Bashar al-Assad’s embattled regime pressed ahead with a crackdown on dissent.
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani said 19 of the Arab League’s 22 members voted to ban prominent Syrian regime officials “from travelling to Arab countries and to freeze their accounts in Arab countries.”
The bloc’s members will also stop dealing with the Syrian Central Bank and suspend economic trade with the Damascus government, with the exception of foodstuffs, he said. Iraq had abstained from the vote, and refused to implement it, while Lebanon “disassociated itself” from the decision, he said.
The decision also called on Arab central banks to monitor transfers to Syria, except remittances from Syrians abroad to their families.
The Arab League had set a Friday deadline for Damascus to agree to an observers’ mission, part of a reform deal Syria had previously said it accepted. Syria has denounced the Arab League’s moves to suspend it from the pan-Arab body and level sanctions against Assad’s regime. In a letter to the Arab League on Saturday, Foreign Minister Walid Muallem accused the organisation of seeking to “internationalise” the crisis in his country.
The violence showed no sign of abating on Sunday, with security forces killing at least 11 people, six in the flashpoint central region of Homs which has been besieged for weeks in a bid to crush dissent, activists said. However, earlier, as the meeting chaired by Qatar got underway, cracks appeared over the feasibility of the measures with some countries warning against hasty decisions and Syria’s neighbours expressing reservations, diplomats said.
Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon, which border Syria and have close economic ties with Damascus, were invited to attend the task force meeting, Egypt’s state-run MENA news agency reported.
Arab diplomats said Algeria and Oman — two members of the task force which also includes Sudan and Egypt as well as the Arab League chief — have questioned the “feasibility” of sanctions on Syria.
Algeria and Oman have cautioned against hasty decisions because they consider that “the negative impact of the sanctions will be catastrophic for the people before affecting the regime,” one diplomat said.
Arab finance ministers recommended on Saturday a raft of sanctions against Syria, including a ban on Syrian officials visiting any Arab country, the freezing of government assets, suspension of flights and a halt to any transactions with the Syrian government and central bank.
Arab states are also called to freeze any investments for projects in Syria.They were to be discussed by the task force which would then ask foreign ministers of the 22-member Arab bloc “to take the appropriate measures” including a vote. But sanctions must be approved by a two-thirds majority and the Arabs appeared divided on how to deal with Syria.
Arab League imposes sanctions on Syria
