Arab foreign ministers to discuss Syria, Sudan in Cairo

CAIRO (Reuters) – Arab foreign ministers will meet at the Arab League in Cairo on Sunday to discuss Syria, a League spokesman said, amid a regional push to normalise ties with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad after a decade of estrangement.

The foreign ministers will hold a separate meeting on Sunday to address the conflict that erupted in Sudan last month, according to Gamal Roshdy, a spokesman for the Arab League’s secretary general.

Syria’s membership in the Arab League was suspended in 2011 after a bloody crackdown on street protests against Assad that led to a devastating civil war, and many Arab states pulled their envoys out of Damascus.

Recently, several Arab states including Saudi Arabia and Egypt have re-engaged with Syria in high-level visits and meetings, though some, including Qatar, remain opposed to full normalisation without a political solution to Syria’s conflict.

Arab states have been trying to reach consensus on whether to invite Assad to an Arab League summit on May 19 in Riyadh to discuss the pace of normalising ties and on what terms Syria could be allowed back.

Saudi Arabia long resisted restoring relations with Assad but said after its recent rapprochement with Iran – Syria’s key regional ally – that a new approach was needed with Damascus.

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