Welcome roadmap: Arab League backs UN plan on Syria

The resolution foresees talks between the rebels and the regime, and a rapid truce

CAIRO:

The Arab League welcomed Sunday a UN-backed roadmap to end the Syrian war and vowed to support international efforts to implement a ceasefire.

The resolution, approved unanimously by the UN Security Council on Friday, foresees talks between the rebels and the regime, and a rapid truce.

"The unanimous adoption of the UN Security Council resolution offers a chance for the first time to find a serious solution to the crisis in Syria," Nabil al-Arabi, head of the Cairo-based Arab League, said in a statement.

He said the Arab diplomatic body was ready to continue co-ordinating with the UN envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, in "removing any obstacles that impede the implementation of the resolution".

Arabi urged the UN Security Council to take necessary steps in establishing an international monitoring mechanism to impose the ceasefire on all parties.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 21^st,  2015.