Brussels, 09/12/2012 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 8 February, the secretary general of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, declared that the Arab League would send its observer mission to Syria. The head of the Arab League, Nabil Al-Arabi, explained to Ban Ki-moon by telephone that he intended to, “send the Arab League observer mission and needed help from the UN”. The secretary general of the UN said that the former had suggested, “a joint mission in Syria, with a special joint emissary” and that the question would be submitted to the Security Council in the next few days. The French foreign affairs minister welcomed the return of the observers, “on the condition that they are allowed to fully and freely exercise their mandate”. The minister also said that they should be allowed to, “travel around freely and have access to all necessary contacts”.
French pressure. The Minister explained that Alain Juppé had contacted his counterparts, “in all countries that want to put an end to the repression in Syria and implement the Arab League plan in all its different dimensions”. The minister also said that he was in favour of Turkey's initiative to organise an international conference on the Syrian crisis as soon as possible.
The president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, made a personal appeal on Wednesday to his Russian counterpart, Dmitri Medvedev, calling on him to give his full support to the Arab League's plan to convince Bashar Al-Assad to step down. Sarkozy emphasised the need for Medvedev to increase pressure on the Syrian regime so that the repression is halted. The Kremlin explained that the Russian president had warned France against, “any hasty unilateral measures”. Earlier in the day, Medvedev had underlined the necessity of continuing (including the Security Council) efforts to find a concerted approach to help resolve the crisis by the Syrians themselves.
Risk of militarisation. The research director at the Brookings Doha Center, Shadi Hamid, said that diplomatic solutions to the crisis had been exhausted and that military options were now seriously being discussed. He said that the double veto at the Security Council was the best way of mobilising the Free Syrian Army because its position would subsequently be strengthened. He said that many Syrians were now saying that they had attempted to demonstrate peacefully but this had not achieved any results and they now needed to defend themselves against the violence of the regime. (CG/transl.fl)