Kuwait takes part in Arab meeting to address Libya, Syria

Kuwait is to take part in an emergency Arab meeting due here later on Saturday amid reports that the Arab states planned to address strong-worded rhetoric to Syrian leadership to halt clampdown on activists. Kuwaiti Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Dr. Mohammad Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah is due to take part in an extraordinary meeting on Libya and Syria, scheduled to be held at the Arab League's headquarters. Kuwait permanent representative in the League Ambassador Jamal Al-Ghuneim told KUNA that the high-level Kuwaiti representation in the meeting would be in line with the basic policy of the State of Kuwait of supporting human rights in Syria and overall GCC stance vis a a vis the Syrian question. Conferees, at start of the meeting, are scheduled to discuss shifting the league seat to the National Transitional Council of Libya. Once they recognize the new Libyan leadership, a Libyan delegation headed by Mahmoud Jibril, the head of the NTC executive council, would attend the meetings. Mohammad Zaidi, the head of the league directorate, said the league must take an official decision to accept the new Libyan leadership as an active member of the league. The league, during an extraordinary meeting held at the level of permanent delegates, on February 23, decided to suspend the Libyan membership temporarily, against the background of the popular uprising in Libya. Meanwhile, an Arab diplomatic source said the Arab countries were in consensus on the necessity of exerting pressure on the Syrian regime to coerce it halt military operations against protesting reform advocates and political activists and withdraw the armed forces to the barracks. The source said that an Arab delegation would be dispatched to Syria to inform the leadership about the Arab states' desire to take a firm stance against the clampdown on the protestors, in harmony with the stance of the international community. An explicit message will be addressed to the Syrian President, Bashar Al-Assad, that the Arab states could not remain passive vis a vis the events in Syria, especially after the imposition of international sanctions on Syrian leaders, the sources said. However, the source ruled out suspension of Syria's membership at the league. The meeting will be the first to be held at this level since flare-up of the uprising in Syria five months ago.