UN envoy meets Arab League chief for Syria talks
The new UN special envoy for Syria held talks Sunday with the head of the Arab League.
CAIRO (AFP) - The new UN special envoy for Syria held talks Sunday with the head of the Arab League, whose members appear divided about whether to readmit the war-torn country.
The League, which will hold its annual summit in Tunisia in March, suspended Syria s membership in November 2011 as the death toll in the country s civil war mounted.
Norwegian diplomat Geir Pedersen, who this month become the fourth UN negotiator aiming to resolve the nearly eight-year conflict, met with Arab League chief Ahmed Abul Gheit in Cairo on Sunday, the organisation said.
They discussed the latest talks among Arab states about the organisation s decisions on Syria since 2011, the League said in a statement.
Abul Gheit also pointed to the importance of "reaching a peaceful solution" to the Syrian crisis, it said.
Pedersen was also scheduled to meet with Egypt s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry.
Several Arab states including Lebanon and Tunisia have recently called for Syria s return to the Arab League.
In December, Sudan s President Omar al-Bashir made the first visit by any Arab leader to the Syrian capital since 2011, and the United Arab Emirates reopened its embassy in Damascus.
In another sign of a diplomatic thaw, the speaker of Jordan s parliament invited his Syrian counterpart to meetings of the Arab Parliamentary Union in Amman in March, Jordanian state news agency Petra reported Sunday.
But not all of the League s members support closer ties with Damascus.
Qatar, which has backed rebels in Syria s civil war, said this month that Damascus under President Bashar al-Assad should not be allowed back into the Arab League.
Pedersen stressed the need for a UN-brokered political solution to the war when he visited Damascus after assuming his duties this month following the resignation of his predecessor Staffan de Mistura.
