AFP, Damascus, 2 Jan 2012 – The Arab League chief said on Monday that snipers and gunfire continue to threaten civilian lives in Syria and called for the shootings to end, as activists heaped criticism on the mission.
But Nabil al-Arabi defended the observers in his first remarks since the Arab monitors were deployed in Syria a week ago, saying the ‘mission needs more time.’
‘There are still snipers and gunfire. There must be a total halt to the gunfire,’ Arabi said, even as monitors strive to stem the persistent bloodshed.
The issue will be raised with the government of President Bashar al-Assad, he told reporters in Cairo, ‘because the aim is to stop the shooting and protect civilians.’
But ‘it is difficult to say who is firing on whom,’ Arabi added.
On the ground, three more civilians were reportedly killed by security force gunfire on Monday, while mutinous soldiers carried out attacks on three positions of the regular army, a watchdog and activists said.
After weeks of stalling, Syria agreed last month to allow the deployment of observers as part of an Arab roadmap calling for the withdrawal of the military from cities and residential districts, a halt to violence against civilians and the release of detainees.
The mission has been mired in controversy since a first team of 50 observers deployed in Syria on December 26, with activists and commentators saying Syrian authorities were keeping the monitors on a short leash and critical of the choice of a former top Sudanese military commander to head the operation.
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an advisory body of the 22-member Arab League, intensified the pressure saying the monitors should be immediately withdrawn having failed to halt the government’s deadly crackdown.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.’
Arab foreign ministers could meet as early as next week to review a report expected to be submitted later this week by the mission’s chief and to consider Diqbassi’s remarks, Arabi said.
But he stressed that the League would not back down from the mission and would be sending more observers soon.
‘We have 70 observers in six cities who carried out 26 missions (so far). Thirty more monitors will join them within days,’ Arabi said.
He also revealed that the Syrian government promised to allow foreign journalists into the country to cover the unrest that has gone unabated since mid-March, ‘with the exception of three television stations.’