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Middle East and North Africa

Syrian opposition demands official representation in Arab League

Syrian membership was suspended in November 2011

© EPA/SEDAT SUNA

CAIRO, November 26. /ITAR-TASS/. - Syrian opposition lays claim to the seat of the Syrian government in the Arab League, the leader of the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, Ahmad Al-Jarba, said Tuesday while meeting with the Secretary-General Nabil el-Eraby.

“The interim Cabinet will send an official letter in the following days,” Al-Jarba told journalists recalling the Arab League’s pledge to give the opposition the right to participate in the organization once an interim government was formed.

Syrian membership was suspended in November 2011. Then the procedure was initiated by Arab monarchies, primarily Qatar, deemed the main sponsor of the Syrian opposition forces. A year later, the Arab League recognized the National Coalition established in Doha as a lawful representative of the Syrian opposition and the main authority of the Syrian people the League would talk to.

At the Arab League's summit in Doha last March the opposition’s proxies occupied the government’s seat, but that was followed by el-Eraby’s statement official representation was not possible until an interim government was formed.

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