adminThe mission has been mired in controversy since a first team of observers arrived on December 26, with activists accusing Assad’s regime of keeping the monitors on a short leash as it presses on with a lethal crackdown on dissent.
Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi, in his first remarks since the observers were deployed, defended the mission, saying it had secured the release of political prisoners and the withdrawal of tanks from cities.
However, “there are still snipers and gunfire. There must be a total halt to the gunfire,” he told reporters on Monday.
The issue would be raised with Assad’s government “because the aim is to stop the shooting and protect civilians,” Arabi said, adding “it is difficult to say who is firing on whom.”
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said yesterday that he was “sceptical” about the progress of the Arab League’s operation.
“The conditions under which this observer mission is operating should be clarified,” Juppe said, questioning whether the observers really had free access to information.
President Sarkozy also weighed in yesterday, saying Syrians should be allowed “to freely choose their own destiny” after facing what he denounced as brutal persecution that inspires “disgust and revulsion.”
Sarkozy demanded the regime give the observers space to work, and called on the international community to “face up to its responsibilities” by imposing the “toughest sanctions” to force Damascus to grant humanitarian access.
After weeks of stalling, Syria agreed last month to allow the deployment of observers as part of an Arab roadmap calling for the military’s withdrawal from cities and residential zones, a halt to violence against
civilians and the release of detainees.
According to the UN’s latest estimates given last month, more than 5 000 people have been killed in the Assad regime’s crackdown on dissent since mid-March.
The Arab League mission has also been criticised by Syrian activists and opposition figures over the choice of a former top Sudanese military commander, General Mohammed Ahmed Mustafa al-Dabi, to head its observer operation.
Dabi is a controversial figure because he served under Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes.
On Sunday, the Arab Parliament, an advisory body of the 22-member Arab League, intensified the pressure saying the monitors should be immediately withdrawn having failed to halt the government’s crackdown.
“We are seeing an increase in violence, more people are being killed including children . . . and all this in the presence of Arab League monitors, which has angered the Arab people,” said the body’s speaker, Salem al-Diqbassi.
He urged Arabi to “immediately pull out the Arab observers, considering the continued killing of innocent civilians by the Syrian regime.”
In his response, the League chief said Diqbassi’s comments were an “important statement.” — AFP.
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