Arab leaders on Thursday urged a peaceful solution to the crisis in Syria at a landmark summit in Baghdad, marred by stayaways and a mortar attack near the Iranian embassy as the meeting opened.
Only nine visiting leaders of the 22-member Arab League turned up for the summit, the first to be held in the Iraqi capital in more than 20 years, which was opened with a call for peace by UN chief Ban Ki-moon. Reflecting the rift between Arab countries on steps they believe should be taken to end the bloodletting in Syria, officials said a final summit statement would not call on President Bashar al-Assad to quit nor consider arming the rebels against him as some states have demanded. Qatar and Saudi Arabia, two states seeking the most aggressive measures on Damascus, only sent envoys to Baghdad. Qatar explained its decision as being designed to send a “message” to hosts Iraq, which has taken a softer position than most other League members on its neighbour and trading partner.
Even as the summit got underway, Syrian security forces assailed rebel strongholds across the country, a day after Assad’s regime made clear it would not abide by any Arab League initiatives.
While regional officials have pushed to focus on a wide variety of issues, ranging from the Arab-Israel conflict to jumpstarting the bloc’s economies, the summit was focused on Syria, where monitors say nearly 10,000 people have died in a year-long revolt against Assad’s rule. In his speech opening the summit, Ban called for Syrian authorities to implement UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan’s peace plan and for an end to violence ravaging the country. “It is essential that President Assad put those commitments into immediate effect. The world is waiting for commitments to be translated into action. The key here is implementation. There is no time to waste,” he said. “We reiterate our call for a peaceful solution to meet the expectations of the Syrian people without any foreign interference,” Iraqi President Jalal Talabani meanwhile told the summit.
Arab leaders have said they will at the summit call for talks between the Syrian government and opposition based on a six-point peace plan proposed by Annan, according to a draft copy of the Baghdad Declaration obtained by AFP. The region’s leaders “denounce the violence, murder and bloodshed, and are in favour of a political solution via national dialogue,” said the document, to be issued after the summit.
