Araby hopes Geneva 2 meeting to be held on schedule

Arab League Secretary General Nabil el-Araby underlined the importance of holding Geneva-2 conference on Syria as scheduled on January 22 without any further delays. The Syrian crisis has reached very tragic levels, Araby has said during a press conference held to review the Arab League’s 2013 achievements. A large number of countries will be invited to the Geneva-2 gathering, including ten Arab states. The Arab League’s unchanged position on Syria is to ceasefire and allow humanitarian assistance into the country to help six million displaced citizens within and three million refugees in neighboring countries, according to Araby. He said head of the Syrian opposition Ahmad al-Jarba told him the opposition would participate in the meeting. Speaking about the Palestinian cause, Araby denied that last Arab ministerial meeting held in Cairo agreed on a framework agreement between the Palestinian and Israeli sides. He condemned Israeli procrastinations and settlement activities. As for the Arab League’s stance on the Egyptian government’s designation of the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization and Cairo’s calls for reviving the Arab anti-terrorism agreement, he said he met recently with Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy but had not received a formal request in this regard. The agreement was signed by 17 Arab countries and applying it was a sovereign decision to be taken by each country, he said, adding that the Arab League’s role was quite diplomacy to calm each side.