Arab League chief heads to UN over Syria

[Chris]

Arab League chief heads to UN over Syria
By REUTERS 01/29/2012 14:31
Elaraby seeks support of UNSC for plan to ask Assad to step down; Arab foreign ministers discuss "developments."
Arab League Sec.-Gen. Elaraby, Qatari FM Jassim By REUTERS

CAIRO - Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby headed to New York on Sunday seeking to win support from the UN Security Council for a plan to end violence in Syria by asking President Bashar Assad to step aside. Elaraby will brief the Security Council on Tuesday but the Arab initiative, which is backed by Western states, is facing resistance from Russia and China, two of the five permanent members of the council with veto powers.

Elaraby, the league's secretary-general, will be joined in New York by Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani, whose country heads the league's committee charged with following Syrian developments. Qatar and fellow Gulf Arab state Saudi Arabia have been leading efforts to put pressure on Assad. "We will hold several meetings with representatives from members of the Security Council to obtain the council's support and agreement to the Arab initiative," Elaraby told reporters at Cairo airport shortly before leaving for New York.

more..................Arab League chief heads to UN over Syria - JPost - Middle East

[Chris]

They are gonna "ask" Assad to step down??? I'm sure Assad won't even respond to such absurd requests. Looks like there is nothing that can be done for the Syrians as Russia and China are set to block any attempts to do anything about Syria. I guess the people in Syria are going to have to fight this one.