Mission in Syria continues

Arab League gives observers green light

CAIRO: Arab ministers meeting here have given observers in Syria the green light to continue their mission and called for an immediate end to the violence there.

The Arab ministerial committee on Syria “has decided to give Arab League observers the necessary time to continue their mission according to the protocol”, which states that the mission is for the duration of one month.

The committee “calls on the Syrian government and all armed groups to immediately stop all acts of violence”, it said in its final statement.

A team of Arab League monitors has been in Syria since Dec 26, trying to assess whether President Bashar al-assad’s regime is complying with a peace accord aimed at ending its deadly crackdown on dissent.

Arab League ministers responsible for monitoring the Syrian crisis say they need more observers and greater independence on the ground.

They added in the statement that those were conditions for successfully carrying out an observer mission aimed at pressuring Damascus to stop its 10-month-old crackdown on protesters that has killed thousands.

Opposition activists say around 450 people have been killed by Assad’s regime since observers began work in Syria nearly two weeks ago.

At the meeting, the head of the observers issued his first report on the mission, sharing photos, maps and initial findings.

The opposition charges that the regime is misleading the 165 observers and that the mission had done nothing to resolve the crisis.

Critics say it has been completely outmanoeuvred by the government and has failed to make any progress towards stemming the crackdown. They have called for the mission to pull out. — Agencies