London, Asharq al-Awsat- Ahmad al-Sufi, Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh Media secretary has categorically rejected recalling Yemen’s ambassador to Syria.
In an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, al-Sufi said, “We will not recall our ambassador to Syria, because the resolution was hasty and premeditated, and there was no sufficient opportunity to study it, or scope for a political settlement for the Syrian crisis. Moreover, Syria was not given the opportunity to explain its stance toward the Arab initiative and the political crisis through which it is going. This resolution is illegal, because the freezing of the membership of a country is a resolution that has to be adopted at the level of summit, and not at the level of foreign ministers.”
Regarding the reasons of Yemen’s objections to the Arab League resolution, Al-Sufi told Asharq Al-Awsat,”There is a clear bias in favour of the Syrian opposition at the expense of the Syrian Government. The Arab League has behaved as if it is a guardian of the Syrian opposition.”
The Yemeni Media secretary went on to say that, “it is impossible to put the requirements of the resolutions, which are based on exaggerating the Syrian crisis, before Syria’s status, prestige, and role in the region. If Syria does not carry out some of the requirements of the Arab initiative, supporting and standing by it at such a time still is a strategic option, not only for Yemen, but also for anyone who knows that Syria is in the heart of the Arab-Israeli conflict, which is required today to be turned into an Arab-Arab conflict.”
Al-Sufi concluded by saying, “this is the second gravest resolution adopted by the Arab League that contradicts the spirit of its charter. The first decision was about the Libyan issue, when the Arab League paved the way for NATO to launch its attack on Libya. Moreover this resolution to suspend Syria’s membership of the Arab League is in response to the whims of a tendency that not only manages the Arab League, but also manages the entire region by means of political money.”