Arab
League
Report Blames
Opposition for
French
Reporter's
Death, Decries
Media
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
January 28 --
Outside
the UN
Security
Council Friday
afternoon,
Syrian
Ambassador
Bashar
Ja'afari
repeatedly
told the
press to find
and read the
Arab League
monitors'
report, which
was
supposed to
have been
annexed to the
League's
letter to the
Council
but was not.
(Click here
for Inner City
Press' first
coverage of
this
"Annex amateur
hour".)
Attached for any
reader who
might not
otherwise have
access to it
is the "Report
of
the Head of
the League of
Arab States
Observer
Mission to
Syria
for the period
from 24
December 2011
to 18 January
2012," as
Inner City
Press obtained
it.
As
Ja'afari said,
in the main
example he
gave, this
Report says in
Paragraph 44
that
"Mission
reports from
Homs indicate
French
journalist was
killed
by opposition
mortar
shells."
Of
that, Ja'afari
pointedly
said, "you'll
never hear the
French
Ambassador
[Gerard
Araud] or
BanKiMoon say
that."
The
Report, signed
by Sudanese
General Al
Dabi who was
active in
Darfur, the
locus of
International
Criminal Court
indicted war
crimes, also
says at
Paragraph 29
that "the
media
exaggerated...
the number of
persons
killed." Is
Dabi or
the Arab
League also
saying that of
UN High
Commissioner
for Human
Rights Navi
Pillay, and
UNICEF?
On
the
other hand Al
Dabi's report
recites for
example down
in Paragraph
74 that "The
Mission was
informed by
the
opposition,
particularly
in Dar‘a,
Homs, Hama and
Idlib, that
some of its
members had
taken up arms
in response to
the suffering
of the Syrian
people as a
result of the
regime’s
oppression and
tyranny;
corruption,
which affects
all sectors of
society; the
use of torture
by the
security
agencies; and
human rights
violations."
Ja'afari's
argument
on Friday was
that the Arab
League is
split, but
Qatar and
some others
came to the UN
before or
without regard
for the Arab
League Report.
(c) UN Photo
Syria PR
Ja'afari at
UN:
"Gentlemen,
read the [Al
Babi] Report"
Tuesday, the
Security
Council will
hear from the
Qatari
minister and
the Secretary
General of the
Arab League --
and
not from Al
Dabi. Still,
will this
split be
brought up?
We
will have more
about the
Report, but
for now we are
putting it online, here.
In the list of
media
reportedly
granted
accreditation
to enter Syria
(but not yet
entering) are
two reporters
"from the
agency
Roberts." Oh,
Dabi!
, 
