Arab meeting on Syria seen delayed, awaits UN move
Wed, 1 Feb 2012 16:38 GMT
CAIRO, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Arab foreign ministers are likely to meet on Feb. 11, almost a week later than originally planned, to discuss the Syria crisis, an Arab diplomat said on Wednesday, a delay that would give time to see whether world powers back an Arab peace plan.
The diplomat at the Arab League, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the meeting was now expected to be delayed from the scheduled date of Feb. 5, although he said there had been no official notification.
There was no immediate comment from League officials.
The diplomat said the delay was "just to give some time for the United Nations to take a decision or to see what is the reaction of the Syrian government concerning the position of the United Nations".
Western and Arab pressure for action on Syria is driven by alarm over the killing of more than 5,000 people, by a U.N. count, since Damascus began a crackdown on pro-democracy unrest nearly a year ago.
Arab ministers drew up a peace plan on Jan. 22 calling for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to hand over power to a deputy and set up a new unity government. They said they would seek support from the U.N. Security Council.
A senior Russian diplomat said on Wednesday there was no chance a Western-Arab draft U.N. Security Council resolution, backing the Arab plan, can pass without language clearly ruling out potential military intervention in Syria, the Interfax news agency reported. (Writing by Edmund Blair; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
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