Arab League chief Nabil al-Araby met on Wednesday with the Syrian opposition delegation to mull recent developments in Syria and discuss methods to unify efforts by the opposition.
Saleh Musallam, head of the delegation, said after the meeting that they support efforts to unify the Syrian opposition and that agreement on a political vision depends on supporting the initiative by the joint UN and Arab League envoy Kofi Annan as well as supporting efforts by the Arab League.
He also referred to real desire by the Arab League to make Annan’s initiative successful. “We shouldn’t bet on other alternatives,” he said, adding that it should be a successful resolution to the Syrian crisis, despite attempts to make it fail by the regime.
“We think unity of the opposition is not based on one party representing it, but recognizing the complicated authorities that have different visions,” Musallam said when asked about the Syrian opposition's skepticism of the Syrian National Council's leadership. He added that opposition is not represented by one party but all of the opposition.
Musallam said it refused that any party would announce being the only legitimate representative. “We as a democratic force would say that all opposition forces are concerned about resolving the Syrian crisis, and hence the opposition meeting should include all the factions [in order] to agree on steps related to Syria’s future.”
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
