February 2, 2012 (WASHINGTON) – The head of the Arab League observer mission to Syria, General Mohammed Ahmed Mustafa al-Dabi slammed the Arab and Sudanese media saying that it has failed to understand the nature of his mandate which is to monitor the violence and not stop it.

Sudanese General Mohammed Ahmed Mustafa al-Dabi, head of the Arab League observer mission in Syria, gestures during a press conference in the capital Khartoum on February 2, 2012 (AFP)

Speaking at a press conference in Khartoum on Thursday, al-Dabi said he is satisfied with what the team he led accomplished in Syria despite what he described as a “fierce” media campaign.

“I swear by God, I am fully satisfied with myself and with all those on the mission in Syria,” he said.

The Sudanese General said that newspapers write without being fully aware of the facts. He added that the number of observers on his mission from various Arab countries was sufficient.

Al-Dabi also revealed his intention to return to Damascus on Friday after political consultations with officials in Khartoum but did not elaborate on what will be discussed.

The Arab league sent observers to Syria last December to monitor whether the government there was heeding an earlier plan that included a call to withdraw the military from residential areas and release political prisoners.

Figures given by Syrian opposition groups and the state news agency SANA suggest that hundreds of people have been killed since the monitors arrived, although their leader, Sudanese General Mohammed al-Dabi, put the death toll at just 136.

The Arab League mission in Syria was suspended on January 28th following an escalation of violence. Prior to that Arab Gulf state countries decided to withdraw their nationals from the team. Other observers pulled out as individuals and some of them even slammed al-Dabi’s performance.

Al-Dabi also refused to link his mission to the official position of Khartoum towards the situation in Syria. He said his critics have been blinded from the truth about his mandate which he emphasized does not include conducting investigations with the Syrian government or its opponents.

The pic of the Sudanese general was criticized by Syrian opposition and rights groups who say that he led various security organs in Sudan which were accused of being responsible for the arbitrary arrest and detention, enforced disappearance, and torture or other ill-treatment of dissidents.

The press conference was attended by some of the Syrian nationals living in Sudan who appeared dissatisfied with al-Dabi’s statements and left in anger charging him with trying to appease the regime in Damascus and president Bashar al-Assad.

"God knows what they received in exchange for those reports" one of them said.

Al-Dabi recounted examples of testimonies by some of his monitors from Jordan, Sudan and Bahrain who said they have seen no violence in areas they were assigned to in Syria.

He also slammed Anwar Malik, the Algerian-born monitor on his team who resigned early on, saying that documents in his possession proves that he is a fugitive and has no affiliation with the organization he claims to be part of.

Malik had called the mission a farce and said that al-Dabi was working so as not to anger Damascus.

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is negotiating a Western-Arab draft resolution endorsing the Arab League’s call for Syrian President to transfer powers to his deputy. The text is facing stiff resistance from Russia which is pushing for a watered down language.

(ST)