CAIRO (Dispatches) – Diplomats from Arab nations are planning an emergency meeting in Cairo over the weekend about the prospect of Syria’s return to the Arab League more than a decade after its membership was suspended, an official said Friday.
Sunday’s meeting, confirmed by Gamal Rushdy, a spokesman for the Arab League, comes as some Arab countries, including Egypt and Saudi Arabia, have opened up relations with Syrian President Bashar Assad and their foreign ministers have visited Damascus in recent weeks. Syria’s foreign minister also visited Cairo and the Saudi capital of Riyadh in April, the first such visits in more than a decade.
Jordan said Syria should be able to return to the Arab League soon.
“The return to the league will happen. Symbolically, it will be important,” Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said in remarks to CNN on Friday.
The Arab League suspended Syria’s membership in 2011, when the Arab country found itself in the grip of overwhelming foreign-backed militancy and terrorism.
Back then, the body cited, what it called, Syria’s alleged crackdown on opposition protests as the reason behind its decision. Syria has denounced the move as lacking in legal foundation and “a violation of the organization’s charter.”
Safadi, however, said Syria now had enough votes among the group’s 22 members to regain its seat.
He, meanwhile, claimed that the reintegration process would be “a very humble beginning of what will be a very long and difficult and challenging process, given the complexity of the crisis after 12 years of conflict.”
The remarks came as several regional Arab states -- including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Egypt -- have been trying to reengage with Syria, sending over their senior officials at the head of ranking delegations for talks with Assad.
Secretary General of the Arab League Ahmed Aboul Gheit also said earlier there was a very high chance for restoration of Syria’s membership in the 22-member regional organization as a founding member.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with Arabic-language Asharq News, Aboul Gheit underscored that Syria’s return to the Arab League is “very likely”.
The 80-year-old Egyptian politician and diplomat added that a series of meetings will be held initially to assess the process, and President Assad will be invited to the Arab League summit in Riyadh once member states reach a consensus on the matter.