» 01/23/2012 09:19 SYRIA Arab League asks Assad to step aside. Damascus holds fast. Proposal for the creation of a national government, including the opposition, and Assad’s resignation. For now there is an unofficial "no". Saudi Arabia wants to withdraw its observers, Qatar calls for UN help.
Cairo (AsiaNews) - The Arab League (AL) has called on Assad to step down, but Damascus has rejected the proposal.
An AL foreign ministers meeting yesterday in the Egyptian capital concluded with a proposal to Syrian authorities for the formation of a national government that includes the opposition under which Bashar al-Assad should delegate his power to his deputy. The AL proposal is an attempt to end the bloodshed that has swept the country since March last year, and in which an "Arab spring" that sought reforms has now slipped to the brink of civil war.
In recent weeks the League sent a large group of observers to verify the situation on the ground – asking for an end to the violence, both of opponents and army.
So far there has been no official response to the League proposal, but state television quoted an unnamed government official who has rejected the proposal for the transfer of power and the launching of a national government.
The League is divided on how to proceed. Saudi Arabia, frustrated by the lack of results of the observer mission is planning to withdraw. Qatar meanwhile wants the issue of Syria to be presented to the UN Security Council.
The lively criticism of Riyadh and Doha add support to proposed embargo already in place by the West, but they seem more dictated by the attempt to weaken the alliance between Syria and Tehran, rather than to solve the social crisis there present.
Meanwhile, local sources difficult to verify, report that five people were killed in Douma, a suburb of Damascus. According to opposition activists, since the start of the AL observer mission, there have been at least 1000 deaths.
