CAIRO – The head of the Arab League will visit Syria on Saturday to convey concerns over the bloody crackdown on popular unrest that has killed hundreds, a league official and Arab diplomats said yesterday.
Arab League secretary general Nabil Elaraby had originally been expected to travel to Damascus yesterday. But Arab diplomats said the visit was delayed at Syria’s request. No official explanation was given.
Arab governments broke months of silence over Syria at a meeting in Cairo last week, demanding an end to the bloodshed, and decided to send Mr Elaraby to Damascus to press for political and economic reforms.
An Arab diplomatic source said Damascus delayed the visit after Mr Elaraby met Syrian opposition members and because of a leaked Qatari proposal for possible demands that Arab states would make to Syria.
A member of the Syrian opposition, Haitham al-Malih, told al-Jazeera television he was among a group that met Mr Elaraby at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo. It was not immediately possible to confirm such a meeting with League officials.
The Arab League, which groups 23 Arab states, confirmed on its website that Mr Elaraby would visit Syria on Saturday. A league official said there would be an Arab ministerial meeting on September 13th in Cairo. A representative at the league said there was no plan to suspend Syria’s membership in the Arab body, as with Libya in February after forces loyal to the now deposed Libyan leader Col Muammar Gadafy assaulted protesters.
A source at the league said the proposal for Arab demands on Syria drawn up by Qatar included a call for a multi-candidate presidential election in 2014 and forming a national unity government headed by a candidate acceptable to the opposition. The proposal was not approved by league members. – (Reuters)