Members from Syria's umbrella opposition group, the Syrian National Council, arrived in Cairo Friday to request the Arab League refer the violence in Syria to the United Nations.
The delegation, which includes council chairman Burhan Ghalioun, will meet with Arab League Secretary General Nabil al-Araby, as well as officials who had participated in meetings of a special League ministerial committee on Syria, on Sunday, a council member told the DPA news agency.
The member added that the visit will last for a few days, without setting a definitive date for departure.
The delegation will try “to convince the Arab League to lift its hand on the crisis in Syria and refer the issue to the United Nations,” read a Thursday statement by the Istanbul-based council.
The council will also request a tough League report on the violence in Syria after its monitoring mission there concludes. Since beginning their mission last month, monitors have reported difficulty in stemming the violence that the UN says has claimed more than 5,000 lives since March.
The statement said it would request that the League report expose and condemn “genocide” and “war crimes” taking place in Syria.
Ahead of a Saturday meeting to decide on additional steps to take in Syria, Arab foreign ministers continue to be split over how to resolve the situation. The UN Security Council is similarly divided and has failed to adopt a unified position on the crisis.
Translated from Al-Masry Al-Youm
