Syria Arab League's Syria mission not going to plan, warns chief
The Arab League chief has cast further doubt on the delegation his organisation has sent to monitor the crisis in Syria, describing ongoing violence as "very worrisome" and saying the mission was not going to plan.
Nabil al-Arabi's comments on Thursday come a day after the Cairo-based organisation said it would not send more monitors to Syria until the violence was under control – a tacit admission that the monitors' month-long mission has done nothing to stop it.
One observer on Wednesday broke ranks from the much-criticised mission, describing it as a "farce" that was "serving the regime's interests". Reports emerged on Thursday that another 11 observers also wanted to walk away. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the aggrieved group had witnessed security forces shooting at demonstrators in the northern city of Deir al-Zour – an attack that reportedly killed 19 people on Tuesday.
The claim could not be independently confirmed. However, disaffection from inside the mission and among regional observers is growing by the day, along with a view that the league has remained impotent amid a security onslaught which shows no sign of abating.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/12/arab-league-syria-mission?newsfeed=true
