Sudanese head of Arab League mission to Syria stands by his report
Article
Comments (2)
email Email
print Print
pdfSave
separation
increase
decrease
separation
separation
February 2, 2012 (WASHINGTON) – The head of the Arab League observer
mission to Syria, General Mohammed Ahmed Mustafa al-Dabi slammed the
Arab and Sudanese media saying that it has failed to understand the
nature of his mandate which is to monitor the violence and not stop
it.
JPEG - 38.5 kb
Sudanese General Mohammed Ahmed Mustafa al-Dabi, head of the Arab
League observer mission in Syria, gestures during a press conference
in the capital Khartoum on February 2, 2012 (AFP)
Speaking at a press conference in Khartoum on Thursday, al-Dabi said
he is satisfied with what the team he led accomplished in Syria
despite what he described as a “fierce” media campaign.
“I swear by God, I am fully satisfied with myself and with all those
on the mission in Syria,” he said.
The Sudanese General said that newspapers write without being fully
aware of the facts. He added that the number of observers on his
mission from various Arab countries was sufficient.
Al-Dabi also revealed his intention to return to Damascus on Friday
after political consultations with officials in Khartoum but did not
elaborate on what will be discussed.
The Arab league sent observers to Syria last December to monitor
whether the government there was heeding an earlier plan that included
a call to withdraw the military from residential areas and release
political prisoners.
Figures given by Syrian opposition groups and the state news agency
SANA suggest that hundreds of people have been killed since the
monitors arrived, although their leader, Sudanese General Mohammed
al-Dabi, put the death toll at just 136.
The Arab League mission in Syria was suspended on January 28th
following an escalation of violence. Prior to that Arab Gulf state
countries decided to withdraw their nationals from the team. Other
observers pulled out as individuals and some of them even slammed
al-Dabi’s performance.
Al-Dabi also refused to link his mission to the official position of
Khartoum towards the situation in Syria. He said his critics have been
blinded from the truth about his mandate which he emphasized does not
include conducting investigations with the Syrian government or its
opponents.
The pic of the Sudanese general was criticized by Syrian opposition
and rights groups who say that he led various security organs in Sudan
which were accused of being responsible for the arbitrary arrest and
detention, enforced disappearance, and torture or other ill-treatment
of dissidents.
The press conference was attended by some of the Syrian nationals
living in Sudan who appeared dissatisfied with al-Dabi’s statements
and left in anger charging him with trying to appease the regime in
Damascus and president Bashar al-Assad.
"God knows what they received in exchange for those reports" one of them said.
Al-Dabi recounted examples of testimonies by some of his monitors from
Jordan, Sudan and Bahrain who said they have seen no violence in areas
they were assigned to in Syria.
He also slammed Anwar Malik, the Algerian-born monitor on his team who
resigned early on, saying that documents in his possession proves that
he is a fugitive and has no affiliation with the organization he
claims to be part of.
Malik had called the mission a farce and said that al-Dabi was working
so as not to anger Damascus.
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is negotiating a
Western-Arab draft resolution endorsing the Arab League’s call for
Syrian President to transfer powers to his deputy. The text is facing
stiff resistance from Russia which is pushing for a watered down
language.
(ST)
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
"South Sudan Info - The Kob" group.
To post to this group, send email to [email protected].
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
[email protected].
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/SouthSudanKob?hl=en.
