Bahrain invited for talks to end Al Assad isolation

AFP | Doha                                                 

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com    

Nine Arab countries, including Bahrain, will meet in Saudi Arabia later this week to discuss moves to end the decade-old isolation of President Bashar Al Assad, diplomats said yesterday.

Ministers and top officials from the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries – Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE – and Egypt, Iraq and Jordan have been invited, Qatar foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al Ansari said.

Qatar’s foreign ministry said a meeting would be held on Friday in Jeddah to discuss Syria while other diplomats confirmed that the Al Assad government’s potential presence at an Arab League summit next month would be on the table.

Pressure has been mounting in recent months for greater engagement with Assad, who has been isolated since the start of the Syrian war in 2011. Al Assad has visited the UAE and Oman this year, and last month Saudi Arabia said it has started talks with Damascus about resuming consular services.

The Arab League, which excluded Syria in 2011 over the violent crackdown on regime opponents, is expected to hold a summit in Riyadh in May.

Situation

The main objective of Friday’s meeting “is to discuss the situation in Syria,” Al Ansari told a briefing, adding that Qatar would be represented by Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Shaikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.

An Arab diplomat in the Gulf confirmed that Syria would be the focus of the Jeddah meeting and that “the Arab summit and Syria’s participation in it will definitely be on the table”. Al Ansari said Saudi Arabia had called the “consultative meeting” through the GCC secretariat. Iraq, Jordan and Egypt had been invited as they are “concerned countries”.

The GCC did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Among the countries invited, the Iraqi government said it was considering the invitation. “There are many developments regarding the situation in Syria and Arab views towards Syria’s return to the Arab League,” the Qatari official said.