Gulf Nations reject Arab League recall
A BLOCK of Gulf nations has rejected Syria’s request for an emergency Arab League summit to discuss the increasingly violent unrest.
The six-nation Gulf Co-operation Council yesterday said Arab foreign ministers were already holding talks to prepare for a meeting in Morocco today in which Syria would be officially suspended from the League.
Syria requested the summit after the League voted to give Damascus until today to implement a plan for ending the violence or face suspension. The call for a summit needs backing from 15 of the League’s 22 members. Gulf countries led the drive to punish Syria over its crackdown on protesters.
The Syrian opposition leader Burhan Ghalioun, of the National Transitional Council, has urged Russia to press president Bashar al-Assad to stop the bloodshed.