La missione della Lega Araba in Siria offre al regime di Damasco più tempo di uccidere e non è in grado di fermare la repressione, in corso da dieci mesi: è il motivo che ha spinto l’osservatore algerino Anwar Malek ha sospendere il suo incarico, a lasciare la Siria e a denunciare pubblicamente, in tv, “i crimini delle autorità”.
A 24 ore dalle sue affermazioni, un altro osservatore – questa volta ancora protetto dall’anonimato – ha parlato all’agenzia Reuters mentre è a Latakia e ha detto che appena può abbandona la missione definendola “poco chiara… che non serve i cittadini… non serve nessuno” (si veda in fondo alla pagina il testo integrale di questa seconda intervista).
Nel pomeriggio dell’11 gennaio, dal Cairo la Lega Araba ha intanto annunciato la sospensione dell’invio di altri osservatori che dovevano andare a rinforzare quelli già operativi in Siria dal 26 dicembre.
Malek dal canto suo ha affermato: “Ho sospeso il mio lavoro quattro giorni fa, ma sono uscito dalla Siria solo oggi”. L’osservatore algerino è apparso negli studi di Doha della tv panaraba al Jazira con indosso la pettorina arancione, col simbolo della Lega Araba all’altezza del cuore.
Malek ha accusato le autorità siriane di aver deviato appositamente il loro convoglio, ieri, lungo la strada Homs-Damasco, per esporlo a un attacco armato. “Ci hanno sparato, intenzionalmente. Hanno deviato il percorso apposta”, ha detto.
L’osservatore ha precisato di avere una formazione militare e di ricercatore nel campo dei diritti umani. “Durante la missione mi sono sentito come se difendessi il regime”, ha affermato. “Ho capito che non appartenevo a nessuna missione indipendente di monitoraggio della situazione, che stavo dando al regime ulteriore tempo per uccidere e che non avevo possibilità di fermare le uccisioni”.
“Sono stato per 15 giorni a Homs e ho visitato Bab Amro, Khaldiye, Sultaniya, Bab Sbaa e altre zone (epicentro della repressione). Ho visto delle scene vergognose: ho visto corpi torturati, scuoiati, bambini uccisi. Spesso vedevamo qualcuno colpito da cecchini”, ha aggiunto Malek, secondo cui “quei quartieri di Homs, dove la situazione è davvero tragica, devono essere dichiarate zone colpite da disastro umanitario nel vero senso della parola”.
Il delegato algerino ha poi detto che “a Bab Amr l’esercito (regolare) non può entrare perché il quartiere è protetto dall’Esercito libero (i disertori) e tutti i residenti sono con l’Esercito libero. Solo lì la gente si avvicinava a noi col volto scoperto”.
A Homs, Malek dice di aver visto con i propri occhi “case bombardate da armi pesanti. Ci sono ancora i segni della presenza di quelle armi”. Afferma di esser stato anche in una prigione, della Sicurezza politica, una delle quattro agenzie di controllo del regime.
“Ho trovato persone in uno stato tragico e deplorevole”, ha detto. “Sono sottoposti a torture, a digiuno sistematico, ma i prigionieri nelle condizioni peggiori sono stati trasferiti in zone militari dove noi (osservatori) non abbiamo accesso”.
L’osservatore algerino, che sul suo profilo Facebook aveva annunciato mentre era ancora in Siria, di aver sospeso il suo incarico, ha aggiunto: “In prigione hanno portato anche soldati e agenti dei servizi di sicurezza mascherati da detenuti… come l’ho capito? Ho esperienza di prigioni – ha risposto – e quando qualcuno vive in un posto simile finisce per puzzare come la cella, eppure quei prigionieri odoravano di profumo… profumo di donna… da dove veniva quell’odore?”.
Malek afferma di aver visitato anche una caserma, dove “ho visto corpi di soldati giustiziati, con i fori di arma da fuoco sulla schiena. Molti testimoni hanno confermato che sono stati uccisi perché volevano scappare e disertare”. Nei suoi otto minuti di intervista, l’osservatore della Lega Araba ha anche parlato delle “messinscena del regime”: “tentano ogni cosa pur di disorientarci. Cambiano i nomi delle strade e quando arriviamo in un luogo, lì portano agenti di polizia in abiti civili per organizzare una manifestazione pro-regime, mentre hanno ancora le armi per evitare che manifestanti (anti-regime) si avvicinino a noi… se vogliamo andare in un luogo dell’opposizione, ci sparano per spaventarci… sono arrivati persino a dire che se andavano in quel o in quell’altro quartiere rischiavamo di essere rapiti…”.
– Qui di seguito l’intervista-articolo di Reuters sul secondo osservatore pronto a lasciare la missione.
By Lin Noueihed
CAIRO, Jan 11 (Reuters) – An Arab monitor said on
Wednesday he might quit a fraying Arab League team of observers
in Syria because the mission was proving ineffectual in ending
civilians’ suffering there, exposing rifts in an Arab peace
effort.
His comments come a day after Anwar Malek, an Algerian
observer, told Al Jazeera TV he had quit Syria because the peace
mission was a “farce”.
Malek’s departure was a blow to the mission, already
criticised by Syria’s opposition as a toothless body that only
served to buy President Bashar al-Assad time.
Its work has already been hampered by an attack on monitors
in the western port of Latakia this week that lightly wounded 11
and prompted the League to delay sending new observers to Syria
to join about 165 already there.
Another resignation would further undermine its credibility.
Asked if he agreed with Malek’s characterisation of the
mission as a failure, the monitor said: “It is true, it is true.
Even I am trying to leave on Friday. I’m going to Cairo or
elsewhere… because the mission is unclear…. It does not
serve the citizens. It does not serve anything.”
“The Syrian authorities have exploited the weakness in the
performance of the delegation to not respond. There is no real
response on the ground.”
The monitor, speaking by telephone from Syria, asked not to
be named as he was not authorised to speak to the media.
“The military gear is still present even in the mosques. We
asked that military equipment be withdrawn from the Abu Bakr
al-Siddiq mosque in Deraa and until today they have not
withdrawn.”
The Arab League monitoring mission began work on Dec. 26.
Its task is to verify if Syria is complying with an agreement to
halt a crackdown on 10 months of protests against Assad in which
the United Nations says more than 5,000 people have been killed.
OPPOSITION ALARMED
A U.N. official told the Security Council on Tuesday that
Syria had accelerated its killing of protesters after the Arab
monitors had arrived.
Assad mocked the Arab League in a 100-minute speech in which
he said that it had failed for six decades to promised to take a
position in Arab interests. He said he would strike down a
revolt he slammed as foreign plot.
The choice of a Sudanese general to head the mission had
already alarmed opposition activists who say Sudan’s own
defiance of a war crimes tribunal means the monitors probably
will not recommend strong action against Assad.
The monitor said the Syrian authorities had shown little
genuine willingness to comply with the plan while the observers
lacked the expertise to do their mission justice.
“There is oppression. There is strong oppression and there
is suffering, a lot of suffering, more than you imagine,” he
said, describing one part of the central city of Homs he had
visited.
“This is a very big problem and it is related firstly to the
general will of the Syrian authorities to cooperate with the
delegation in a genuine manner and without manoeuvring,” he
said.
“Secondly, it is related to the expertise of the
delegation… It needs experts in the fields of monitoring, of
diplomacy, of international law.”
While an Arab League meeting on Syria said on Sunday it
remained committed to the mission, the observer said that
individual monitors were thinking of quitting, either fearing
for their lives or frustrated at failing to make a difference.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the League
monitoring mission in Syria could not continue indefinitely.
Adnan Khodeir, head of the League’s monitoring operations
room, said the observers could resume work on Thursday after not
going out for two days following the Latakia attack. “All the
monitors are well, and there are no problems,” he said.
PROMISES NOT MET
Under the Arab peace plan, Syrian authorities were supposed
to stop attacking peaceful protests, withdraw troops and tanks
from the streets, free detainees and open a political dialogue.
The monitor said those promises had not been met, with the
Syrian military still present in cities, even in residential
areas, while it was difficult to verify, for instance, if
political prisoners had genuinely been released.
“There are lots of detainees who are not detained
officially. Are they with air force security? Are they with
military security? Are they with political security?” he said.
Malek accused Syria of war crimes and torturing prisoners.
The Arab League, which suspended Syria in November for failing
to halt the crackdown, disputed Malek’s account, saying illness
had stopped him carrying out his work.
The monitor said Malek may have had contacts with some
Syrian opposition members, but they had visited Homs together.
Monitors had been allowed to visit any area they chose, but
Syrian authorities had refused to accompany them in particularly
tense neighbourhoods, forcing them to make a decision to either
stay away or take the risk of going in alone, said the monitor.
He arrived in Syria on Dec. 27 and has visited Homs,
Damascus and Deraa. The Bab Amr area of Homs was in a
particularly dire way, he added.
Syria has barred most independent media, making it difficult
to verify conflicting accounts of events on the ground.
The country says it is facing a wave of terrorism by
Islamists and conspirators who are armed and manipulated from
abroad and have killed 2,000 members of the security forces.
But the monitor said he had seen no evidence of this.
“We did not feel afraid or threatened while talking to them.
In all the areas we went to, we did not meet any gunmen, unless
they had hidden their guns,” he said. “What we found were
citizens in their homes who spoke of their suffering.” (Reuters).
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