Arabs exploring four options, says Prime Minister Wednesday, 08 February 2012 04:08

DOHA: Qatar says it is shocked by Russia and China vetoing the UN Security Council’s draft resolution on the Syrian crisis and calls on the Arab world to proceed beyond issuing statements and take concrete action to stop the bloodshed in Syria.

Qatar’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, H E Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabor Al Thani, who heads the Arab League Ministerial Committee, said he was shocked by the veto and wondered what ‘interest’ this veto (objection to implementing the above draft) would actually serve.

“We worked closely with the UN Security Council to reach a formula that would be fair and satisfactory and would address some of their (the Council’s) concerns as well,” the Premier told Aljazeera Arabic Channel late on Monday.

Asked pointedly if there was any move to boycott Russia and China due to their stance on the Syrian situation in the UN Security Council, the PM replied in the negative and said there was nothing of that sort on the agenda.

Exhorting fellow Arabs to take concrete action rather than merely issuing statements, the Premier said four options were being explored to dissolve the Syrian imbroglio.

He, however, refused to disclose the options saying that they should be discussed with fellow Arabs first.

The PM said that time factor was crucial as regards the Syrian crisis, adding that as it was 11 months had been wasted in the hope that the imbroglio would be resolved amicably.

“Contacts within the Arab world are being revived on the Syrian issue and there are several ideas to be put forward…At the same time, the opinion of the international community on the issue is also being explored.”

Meanwhile, the website of Qatar’s foreign ministry quoted the PM from the same interview as confirming that the meetings (a reference to the meeting of GCC foreign ministers and the meeting of Arab League and the Arab Peace Committee on the Syrian issue to be held in Riyadh) had been put off until Sunday.

“There are reasons for the delay, but how long can we keep on postponing such meetings,” said the PM.

The Peninsula

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