CAIRO (dpa-AFX) – The foreign ministers of the Arab countries have decided to return Syria to the Arab League. Gamal Ruschdi, spokesman for the organization’s secretary general, told the German Press Agency on Sunday in Cairo during an extraordinary meeting at ministerial level. This ends the isolation of the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad, which was expelled from the organization in 2011 because of its violent actions against its own people.
Secretary-General Ahmed Abul Gheit said Assad could attend the upcoming May 19 summit. “As of tonight, Syria is a full member,” said Abul Gheit. The step is an “independent Arab decision”. According to a decision made on Sunday, a group within the league should now maintain direct contact with the Syrian government. According to a report by the state agency Sana, the Syrian Foreign Ministry welcomed the steps and called for “mutual respect” for the dialogue.
The Arab League suspended the Assad government’s membership in 2011 because of its violent crackdown on its own people. Syrian government troops had violently put down protests in the country at the time. The uprisings developed into a civil war that has continued to this day, in which more than 350,000 people lost their lives. More than 14 million people have been displaced by the fighting, 6.8 million of them in their own country. According to the UN, more than 90 percent of the population lives below the poverty line.
The readmission to the organization, which has around 20 members, should take place “step by step”, according to a three-sided decision on Sunday. Concrete requirements for the government in Damascus are initially not made. Arab media had previously reported on conditions such as new talks with the opposition in Syria, the return of refugees to Syria and curbing drug smuggling to neighboring countries. Such or similar conditions could still follow.
A political solution is the “only way” to an agreement, said Egypt’s Foreign Minister Samih Schukri at the opening of the meeting in Cairo. Intervention by foreign states would have exacerbated the crisis in Syria. The main responsibility for a solution lies with the government in Damascus. Together with allies, this now controls about 70 percent of the fragmented civil war country.
Syria’s formal return to the Arab community has been looming for weeks. About a week ago, the foreign ministers of Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Iraq met their Syrian counterpart Faisal al-Mikdad to discuss normalizing relations. Assad also used the devastating February 6 earthquakes in Syria and Turkey to increasingly appear publicly again. Added to this was the rapprochement between the actual rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran, who had previously supported different sides in the Syrian war./cir/DP/mis