BOUTEFLIKA AND AL-MALIKI TAKE SIDES

July 23, 2012

Arab League foreign ministers have taken a significant step in isolating Syria's President Bashar al-Assad by calling on him to step down. Following a meeting this weekend hosted by Qatar, a statement was published this morning advising the Syrian president to "renounce power" and take up the offer of a "safe exit". The ministers also encouraged the rebel Free Syrian Army to form a transitional government of national unity with the rest of the opposition. The committee included ministers from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Kuwait, Sudan and Oman, as well as Algeria and Iraq, who were the only two countries to express reservations. Why?

As for Algeria, its stance is understandable. A few years ago President Abdelaziz Bouteflika had little trust for the Syrian regime, as documents released by WikiLeaks show, but the "Arab Spring" must have left him feeling vulnerable, even if the wave of protests did leave him largely unscathed. It is therefore not surprising that he would caution against the supporting of an uprising. It is "not the prerogative of this council" to interfere, he warned.

Even more telling is Algeria's relationship with Russia. Last March, Russia's then President Dmitry Medvedev sent a Statement of Congratulations to President Bouteflika on the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. The message concludes with these kind, but prescriptive words:

"We are broadening mutually beneficial ties in trade and economic, energy, military technical, cultural and humanitarian, and other sectors. [Sic] We are strengthening the practice of coordinating our actions in the international arena. It is a pleasure to remark that many of Russia and Algeria’s approaches to the current situation in the Middle East and North Africa are the same or similar. Overall, in supporting the process of transformation in the region, we seek to ensure that it is peaceful and developmental, determined by the Arab peoples themselves, without any ready-made formulas imposed or foreign interference threatening an emergence of new zones of political and ethnic and religious instability. This fundamental attitude is also reflected in our approach to the dramatic events in Syria.”

Iraq's position is more confusing. True, it too is vulnerable; in fact its uprising is already happening. Only today, a coordinated series of attacks in Shia neighbourhoods over 18 towns and cities has killed at least 100 people. But the insurgency here is Al-Qaida linked. Does Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki really believe that Nato is suddenly going to say: "Goodie, another uprising! Let's support our brothers in Al-Qaida topple that wishy-washy government once and for all!"? If anything, its thanks to Bush and Blair that he is there in the first place: and that certainly was an intervention that warranted reservations! I cannot guess what is motivating him, unless he too is trying to ingratiate himself with Putin. So if anyone can shed some light on this: please tell us...