The Arab League recognizes that ending the conflict in Syria is a top priority for the UN Security Council, but its leader on Wednesday instructed the international body on what it must do to be more effective in finding a resolution, DPA reported.
Arab League Secretary General Nabil Elaraby made the comments during discussions aimed at strengthening cooperation between the league and the UN for conflict resolution in the Middle East.
Elaraby cited several steps that the UN will have to carry out in order to create an effective cooperation, including a thorough review of previous resolutions that remain unimplementable.
He said the conflict in Syria needs conflict management rather than conflict resolution because conflict management would look at both sides.
"Time has come for us to review the calculation of this issue (Syrian conflict) ... and avoid a double-standards," Elaraby said. "The Syrian conflict is a top priority for the UN. The UN Security Council failed to achieve (a solution) and the killing has continued."
Elaraby said the other priority is the establishment of a Palestine State, which he said the league strongly supports.
Elaraby welcomed the opportunity to speak at the ministerial meeting in New York, saying it would be a "new beginning" between the league and the UN to cooperate.
He blamed the council's failure to end the Syrian conflict on "differences among the five permanent members." Russia and China have vetoed three resolutions supported by the United States, France and Britain in the past year to condemn the violence and try to impose measures to stop the conflict in Syria.
"If you want (special envoy for Syria) Lakhdar Brahimi to succeed, he must be supported by the whole UN Security Council."
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, whose country presides over the 15-nation council in September, called for an active role of the Arab League as a regional organization to help foster peace and security in the Middle East as well in Islamic countries, which extends the league's reach to North Africa, Somalia and Sudan.
"We appreciate the active leadership of the Arab League to halt the conflict in Syria," Westerwelle said. "Changes in the Arab world have made peace in the Middle East more urgent than ever."
Germany organized the special session of the council, which it said was intended to "strengthen the relationship between the two organizations in their common efforts for peace and stability in the Middle East."
Before the meeting started Westerwelle called for more tolerance between western countries and the Arab world to end unrest that has broken out over an inflammatory video and cartoons published in France that are offensive to Muslims.
"There is no war between the cultures as many people have maintained," Westerwelle said. "What we are seeing is a struggle within the cultures," adding that more bridges should be built between countries, cultures, religions and societies.
The UN is "strongly" engaged in the Arab world, whilst the Arab League was working actively for the resolution of a number of conflicts in Syria, Libya, Yemen and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, according to the German UN delegation.
The UN-Arab League cooperation "encompasses the whole range of conflict prevention and resolution issues, thus looking at peace-making, peace-keeping and peace-building as well as disarmament and combating organized crime, terrorism and drug trafficking," Germany said in a concept paper.
US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told the council that the UN-Arab League cooperation had helped the popular unrest in Libya to topple the former regime of Moammer Gaddafi. She said Washington continues to support that cooperation.
She said the US and international community continued to assist the peoples in Tunisia, Egypt and Yemen to achieve their goals of democratic reforms.
"Unfortunately in Syria, Assad is still clinging to power," she said. She said the US has provided more than 100 million dollars to assist the Syrian people caught in the conflict.
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