Syria rebels to address Arab summit but await seat
Syrian opposition leaders are to address an annual summit of the Arab
League for the first time in Qatar on Tuesday, but the bloc's members
remain divided over whether to give them Damascus's vacant seat.
The Qatari hosts are vocal champions of the rebels fighting President
Bashar al-Assad's regime and said leaders of the armed opposition would
definitely be joining Arab heads of state in Doha.
But they did not specify whether the Syrian National Coalition would
be given Syria's seat which has been vacant since its suspension from
the 22-member bloc in November 2011.
“Arab foreign ministers will decide on the issue of the seat” during
a preparatory meeting in Doha on Sunday, an Arab League official told
AFP.
The Arab League called on the National Coalition on March 6 to form
an executive body to take up Syria's seat and take part in the summit.
But Lebanon distanced itself from the decision, while Algeria and Iraq
expressed reservations.
In all, nine of the bloc's other 21 members retain diplomatic
missions in Damascus -- Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Oman,
Palestine, Sudan and Yemen -- despite its decision last November to
recognise the National Coalition as the legitimate representative of the
Syrian people.
The opposition alliance has begun steps to form an executive body to
administer rebel-held territory inside Syria, electing Ghassan Hitto as
interim premier at a meeting in Turkey on Tuesday.
But a League official said the National Coalition needed to go
further. Hitto's election “is important but is not enough,” he said,
speaking on condition of anonymity. “We are still waiting for the
formation of the interim government.” Hitto will be among the opposition
delegates addressing the Doha summit, National Coalition member Ahmed
Ramadan told AFP.
“We will be represented by interim Prime Minister Ghassan Hitto,
National Coalition head Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib, and the chief of staff of
the (rebel) Syrian Free Army, General Selim Idriss,” Ramadan said.
“For the first time ever, the delegation should be addressing the
Arab summit.” Hitto is charged with forming a government of technocrats
to establish the rule of law and basic services in rebel-held areas.
But his election highlighted deep divisions within the opposition
bloc, with at least 12 of its 49 members announcing the following day
that they were suspending their membership in protest. The dissidents
included the Coalition's deputy head Soheir Atassi and spokesman Walid
al-Bunni. Hitto is seen by some opposition figures as the Islamist
choice for premier, even though he has lived in the United States for
decades, working as an IT executive. US ambassador to Syria Robert Ford
said he was “more Texan than Muslim Brotherhood.”
The Arab League suspended Syria's membership in November 2011 after
Damascus rejected a peace plan proposal calling for an end to the
violence but demanding that Assad step down.
The bloc also imposed a raft of other sanctions, including suspending
trade with the government, freezing its bank accounts abroad, and
suspending air links.
The Damascus government accuses Qatar and its heavyweight neighbour
Saudi Arabia of fanning the conflict by arming the rebels with Western
connivance.
23 March AFP
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