Arab League chief, Syrian foreign minister rue ‘double standards’ in dealing with Israel

CAIRO: Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit’s talks with Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad on Wednesday focused on Israeli aggression against civilians in the Gaza Strip.

Aboul Gheit received Mekdad at the headquarters of the General Secretariat of the League of Arab States.

The meeting underscored “the global inability to halt daily massacres in Gaza, revealing double standards in decision-making countries that continue to provide cover for Israel’s policies despite the exposed brutality and violation of fundamental standards of humanity and morality,” according to Jamal Rushdi, spokesman for the Arab League chief.

The Arab bloc’s chief emphasized the consensus among Arab countries on preserving Syria’s sovereignty, the integrity of its national territory, and the withdrawal of illegal foreign forces from its lands.

Meanwhile, Aboul Gheit received Mohamed Ali Omar, Somali acting foreign minister. Aboul Gheit affirmed the bloc’s supportive stance toward Somalia, Rushdi said.

“The League of Arab States stands in solidarity with Somalia in defending its sovereignty and territorial integrity, while rejecting the memorandum of understanding signed between Ethiopia and the ‘Somaliland’ region last January,” Aboul Gheit said.

The two parties discussed ways and procedures to implement League Council Resolution No. 8988, dated Jan. 17, regarding support for Somalia in confronting the attack on its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Ethiopia signed an agreement last January granting it naval and commercial access to a port on Somaliland’s coast in exchange for recognition of the breakaway region’s independence.

Last January, during a meeting in Egypt with Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, Aboul Gheit described a memorandum of understanding signed between Ethiopia and the Somaliland region as null, void, and unacceptable.