Ashraf Abo Arafe
Today, the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States, Mr. Ahmed Aboul Gheit, received Mr. Geir Pedersen, the new Special Envoy of the Secretary-General of the United Nations for Syria, who is currently visiting Cairo.
Ambassador Mahmoud Afifi, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, said that the meeting witnessed a wide exchange of views on the latest developments in the Syrian crisis.
The Secretary-General reviewed the most important elements of the Arab League’s stance towards the crisis, in light of the decisions issued since 2011 and the recent contacts in this regard.
Pederson reaffirmed the centrality of the role of the League in dealing with the crisis as it relates first and foremost to an Arab state, while also emphasizing the importance of reaching a peaceful solution to the crisis that meets the ambitions and aspirations of all Syrian people, preserves Syria and its regional unity and works in an integrated manner with the human tragedy suffered by millions of Syrian people over nearly eight years.
Aboul Gheit also stressed the importance of working to stop the international and regional interventions that have negative consequences on the course of their settlement, taking into account that these interventions played a major role in prolonging the crisis, pointing out the need to continue at the same time in working to eradicate the terrorist threat in Syria from its roots to ensure its complete elimination.
In the same context, Afifi noted that the UN envoy presented in turn the most important results of his initial contacts with the parties concerned with the crisis since he took office recently, stressing his keenness to maintain permanent contact with the Secretary General to hear his vision in this regard and the dimensions of the Arab position and its developments.
