DUSHANBE, January 9, 2012, Asia-Plus — The Arab League has made a renewed call to the Syrian government to halt violence against civilians.
International media outlets report ministers’ meeting in Cairo said the Arab League mission to Syria would continue, despite criticism that it has not managed to halt civilian deaths. But the ministers failed to take up a proposal to bolster the mission by including United Nations experts.
The BBC reported Sunday evening that past three days have seen more than 100 deaths – although the reports are difficult to verify with most foreign media barred from working in Syria.
According to Reuters, activists said that at least 27 people died across the country on Saturday. The clashes came as thousands joined a state-organized funeral for victims of a bomb blast on Friday in Damascus. At least 26 people died in that attack, some of them members of the security forces.
Authorities blamed what they described as pro-democracy “terrorists” for Friday’s attack. But the opposition Syrian National Council said the government staged the bombing.
The United Nations says more than 5,000 civilians have been killed since protests against President Bashar al-Assad began 10 months ago.
The Arab League mission, in Syria since late December, has been heavily criticized by the Syrian opposition for failing to stop, or even clearly condemn, the ongoing violence.
As it had been reported earlier, 10 new observers arrived on Saturday, bringing the total number of Arab League observers to 153.
The observers are monitoring compliance with a peace plan under which the government promised to withdraw the military from the streets and stop its use of forces against civilians.
The Arab ministers met in Cairo yesterday to hear a detailed report from the head of the monitoring mission.
The ministers resisted a suggestion from Qatar to bring in officials from the UN to add their experience, the BBC says, adding that there is opposition both from Syria and other Arab countries to UN involvement – other Arab countries are sensitive to any measures that might be used against them in the future.
Another reassessment of the mission”s progress is due at the end of January.
