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| AFP photo |
Arab League chief Ahmed Abul Gheit urged Arab governments yesterday to do more to resolve the conflict in Syria rather than leaving it to other powers.
He was speaking as Arab foreign ministers met to prepare for the Arab Leagueโs annual summit, set for today in Jordan.
โIn my view itโs not right that Arab governments stay out of the biggest crisis in the regionโs modern history,โ Abul Gheit said.
He urged them to โfind an effective way of intervening to stop the shedding of blood in Syria and end the war.โ
The Syrian government was not invited to the summit. The bloc suspended Syriaโs membership in late 2011 after anti-regime protests were brutally repressed.
Abul Gheit in February ruled out an early Syrian return to the bloc, saying that this was up to the Leagueโs 21 other members.
He said the issue would only be raised when โa political settlementโ was in sight for Syriaโs devastating civil war which has killed 320,000 people.
Yesterday, he called on Arab governments to โwork in every possible way to play a more active role in major crisesโ, including in Yemen and Libya.
โIt is not right that this kind of terrible crisis gets passed over to international and regional powers to manage as they like and control according to their own interests,โ he said.
โThese conflicts all pose a serious threat to Arab security,โ he said.
