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Arab foreign ministers in Cairo for emergency meeting on Syria

Arab World Materials 12 November 2011 13:00 (UTC +04:00)
Arab foreign ministers arrived in Cairo for an emergency meeting Saturday on Syria, as President Bashar al-Assad's government insisted it had accepted an Arab League plan to end the unrest
Arab foreign ministers in Cairo for emergency meeting on Syria

Arab foreign ministers arrived in Cairo for an emergency meeting Saturday on Syria, as President Bashar al-Assad's government insisted it had accepted an Arab League plan to end the unrest, dpa reported.

The opposition said that Syrian security forces killed at least 21 people in anti-government protests on Friday.

A five-member Arab League committee on Syria met Friday in Cairo with a delegation from the newly formed opposition Syrian National Council.

The committee is led by Qatar and includes the foreign ministers of Algeria, Egypt, Oman and Sudan.

The Syrian National Council, a coalition of opposition figures mainly living outside Syria, is pushing the Arab League to suspend Syria for its clampdown on the protests, in which more than 3,500 people have been killed since mid-March, according to the United Nations.

Syria's permanent representative to the Arab League, Youssef Ahmad, said that he had presented an official memorandum to the Arab League indicating that his country welcomed a visit by the mission.

"The visit of the League's members to Syria will contribute in showing the reality of our commitment to the (Arab League) plan and reveal the motives and agendas of some internal and external sides which are seeking to foil the Arab plan," said Ahmed.

Syria was still abiding by the plan, he claimed, according to the official SANA news agency.

The initiative envisions the withdrawal of troops from civilian areas, the release of all political prisoners and access to international media and human rights groups.

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