Arab League urges Syria to sign peace plan

Syria's foreign minister says the Arab League's newly approved sanctions against Syria Syria's foreign minister says the Arab League's newly approved sanctions against Syria amount to "a declaration of economic war."Foreign Minister Walid Al-Moallem's remarks at a televised appearance in Damascus on Monday come one day after the Arab League approved sweeping sanctions targeting Syria for its crackdown on an eight-month-old uprising. The United Nations says more than 3,500 people have been killed.
Al-Moallem told reporters that the Arab League and others refuse to believe that there is a foreign conspiracy against Syria.
The sanctions by Syria's Arab neighbors are expected to squeeze an ailing economy that already is under sanctions by the U.S. and the European Union.
Economy Minister Mohammed Nidal al-Shaar, in remarks published Monday in the Syrian pro-government daily Al-Watan, said the sanctions are a "political decision and a dangerous precedent that would eventually have a bad impact on Syrian citizens."
Once they take force, he said, "sources of foreign currency would be affected." The comment reflected concern that Arab investment in Syria will fall off and transfers from Syrians living in other Arab will also drop.
Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby meanwhile urged Syria to sign an Arab plan requiring it to stop a violent crackdown on protesters and said this would lead to a review of sanctions and other steps taken against Damascus, Egypt's official news agency reported on Monday.
The appeal was made in a letter from League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby to Al-Moallem. He wrote that signing the deal would lead to "a review of all the measures which the League council took."
Arab foreign ministers agreed massive sanctions against Damascus to punish President Bashar Al-Assad's regime for failing to halt a deadly crackdown on protests, as the death toll in Syria kept on climbing.
As another 23 civilians were reported dead in Syria, the 22-member Arab League announced an immediate ban on transactions with the Syrian government and central bank and a freeze on Syrian government assets in Arab countries.
Further measures including a ban on Syrian officials visiting any Arab country and the suspension of flights are to be implemented at a date fixed at a meeting next week.
A committee made up of senior Arab officials will meet on Wednesday to identify which senior Syrian officials should have their assets frozen and be banned from travelling to Arab states, the Egyptian state news agency MENA reported.
The committee's conclusions will be discussed at an Arab ministerial meeting to be held in Doha on Saturday, it said.
Syrian state television reacted with a terse statement saying the Arab League's action against a member state was "an unprecedented measure" as hundreds of people gathered in Damascus to protest against the measures.
Thousands of Syrians on Sunday flocked to the squares of Damascus, Tartous, Lattakia and Hasaka to condemn the decisions of the Arab League Ministerial Council on imposing the sanctions. Protests were also held in Aleppo and Deir-El-Zor.
The sanctions, announced in Cairo by Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim Al-Thani, are the first time the organisation has imposed such harsh economic measures against another country in the region.
"We hope that (the Syrian regime) puts an end to the massacres so that this resolution (authorising sanctions) is not put into force," said Sheikh Hamad, but he added that "the signs are not positive."
He also called for "an end to the massacres, the freeing of prisoners and the withdrawal of tanks" from Syrian cities.
The Local Coordination Committees, an umbrella group of Syrian activists, welcomed the move but warned that Damascus could get around the sanctions.
"Economic sanctions will have no impact on the Syrian regime unless there is a mechanism by which the implementation of sanctions can be strictly monitored and leave no opportunity for their circumvention," it said.
 The LCC noted in a statement that Iraq and Lebanon, neighbours who have close economic ties with Syria, had reservations about the sanctions.
"The sanctions leave open the opportunity for the regime to commit fraud and strip the sanctions of any substance, thereby prolonging the suffering of the Syrian people at the hands of an oppressive and brutal regime, and due to the sanctions' longer term impacts," it said.
The activists also urged the Arab League "to exert all necessary pressure and make every possible effort in response to the Syrian people's choice to topple the regime."
Nineteen Arab League members voted for the sanctions, but Iraq abstained and said it would refuse to implement them, while Lebanon "disassociated itself," Sheikh Hamad said. Syria is a suspended member.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, whose country thrives on trade with Syria, said ahead of Sunday's vote it was "not possible" to impose sanctions on Assad's regime.
According to Syria's bureau of statistics, 52.5 per cent of all Syrian exports went to Arab countries in 2009 while 16.4 percent of imports came from Arab nations.
Iraq tops the list of importers, buying up 31.4 per cent of outgoing Syrian goods.
Nasser Judeh, the foreign minister of Jordan whose imports travel by land across Syrian territory, also expressed concerns after the vote which his country endorsed.
"The impact of such decisions on Arab countries, particularly neighbours (of Syria)... must be taken into consideration," he said.
Lebanon has sent mixed messages about whether it would participate in sanctions. Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour said last week Beirut would not take steps against Syria, but Prime Minister Najib Mikati said on Thursday his government would implement Arab League decisions, whatever its misgivings.
Several Lebanese banks have units in Syria, set up in recent years after Assad lifted restrictions on private banking operations. Most of the larger Syrian private banks have already been hit by sharp falls in customer deposits.
But the impact of the Arab sanctions is expected to be crippling for Syria itself which already faces a raft of EU and US measures even without Iraq or Lebanon's participation.
The United Nations Human Rights Council is expected to release a new report on the violations committed by the Syrian regime amid reports of the possibility of referring the Syrian file to the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the U.N. Security Council.
Arab foreign ministers, meanwhile, will follow up on the political aspects of the Arab League measures against Syria, with the Turkish presence, Al Arabiya reported on Monday.
The Arab League has approved unprecedented economic sanctions against Syria, isolating President Bashar al-Assad’s government over its eight-month crackdown on protests against his rule.
Britain said the sanctions could help enlist support at the United Nations for action against Damascus, which launched the crackdown against protesters calling for Assad’s removal soon after the uprising began eight months ago.
Ammar Qurabi, Chairman of the Syrian Conference for Change, told Al Arabiya that the Arab foreign ministers will discuss the political aspects on the Arab initiative and “most probably the Syrian file will be referred to the Security Council because the Arab states have failed to protect the Syrian civilians.”
In a special interview with Al Arabiya, Qurabi said that all Syrians are impatiently awaiting the U.N. Human Rights Council’s report, “which would probably recommend the referral of Assad and other Syrian officials to the ICC.”
Qurabi said that Monday’s report would also recommend referring Syria to the Security Council.
“The indications are not positive ... the sanctions are still economic but if there is no movement on the part of Syria then we have a responsibility as human beings to stop the killings,” Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani, Qatar’s prime minister and foreign minister, told reporters.
“Power is not worth anything when a ruler kills his people,” he said after 19 of the League’s 22 members approved the decision to immediately enforce the sanctions at a meeting in Cairo on Sunday.
In London, British Foreign Secretary William Hague praised the Arab League's move.
"Today's unprecedented decision to impose sanctions demonstrates that the regime's repeated failure to deliver on its promises will not be ignored and that those who perpetrate these appalling abuses will be held to account," he said in a statement..
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said on Monday Assad was "totally isolated" after the Arab League's sanctions.
"It is absolutely clear that he is now totally isolated. Things are progressing slowly (in Syria) but they are accelerating after the Arab League's sanctions vote," the minister said.
Talking to local broadcaster France Info, the French top diplomat said "Al-Assad's days are numbered."
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, who attended the Arab League meeting, said: "Nobody can expect Turkey and the Arab League to remain silent on the killings of civilians and the Syrian regime's increasing oppression of innocent people."
Earlier this month Ankara hit its former ally Syria with energy sanctions and threatened more moves after Damascus defied an Arab League ultimatum to accept observers and end its lethal crackdown.
On Sunday the violence showed no sign of abating.
Security forces had killed at least 40 civilians on Sunday, Al Arabiya reported citing Syrian activists.
Many of the victims were in a town north of Damascus that has become a focus for the protests, Anti-Assad activists said. Others were killed in raids on towns in the province of Homs, according to Reuters.
An analyst said the sanctions will not only cripple the regime but could persuade business figures to abandon it.
"The sanctions further isolate everyone at the top," said Angus Blair from the Egypt-based investment bank Beltone Financial.
"It makes it very difficult for figures in Syria to be seen to be close to the regime," he said.