On 20 December 2011, Lt. General Mohamed Ahmed Al-Dabi was selected as Chairman of the Arab League mission tasked with verifying compliance with measures to cease violence within Syria..
Arriving in Syria on Saturday 25 December 2011, his former appointments include a diplomatic role as former Sudanese Ambassador to Qatar and ex-Director of Sudan’s Military Intelligence during the early years of the Salvation Regime of President Al-Bashir. He was later appointed as head of Foreign Intelligence before he returned in 1996 to the military as the Deputy Chief of General Staff. It was during this time that Al-Dabi is accused of allowing or at the very least, turning a blind eye, to mass atrocities being committed in Darfur..
It is for this reason that the international community has condemned Al-Dabi’s appointment as head of the Arab League observer mission to Syria and the incredulity that given his record, Al-Dabi is now tasked with probing war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed against Syria victims. It is enough that the Syrian victims have had to wait this long for an observer mission, with calls being made as early as April 2011. Now over thirty of the members of the Arab League observer mission are of Sudanese origin..
Although not the subject of an investigation by the International Criminal Court in The Hague, his role as the deputy head of Foreign Intelligence, raises questions as to his knowledge of mass atrocities in Darfur and consequently his role as the head of an investigative commission tasked with identifying whether the Al-Assad regime is responsible for committing crimes against humanity..
The appointment of Al-Dabi taints the Arab League’s efforts and characterizes it as nothing more than a political farce, causing little help but much harm to the situation in Syria. We call for a fair, independent observer mission to be allowed full and unrestricted access to all areas of Syria. It would be more appropriate, in our view, in the circumstances of the current conflict, for the United Nations to be mandated to conduct the monitoring mission.
From the Doctors Local Committees in Damascus
Posted by abeer on December 28th, 2011