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If there was ever a time for the Arab League to step up its role in the region’s political issues, now is the time. Before the Libyan uprising, the League did as little as possible to interfere with members’ political affairs, but the Arab World is in dire need of a regional force to reverse the decline in its political stability.
Although democratization is most definitely in the region’s interests, it has brought about multiple levels of division. Syria is most notably the worst affected, with civil strife, sectarian conflict, a government widely believed to be massacring its own people and the danger of a spill-over into Lebanon, a nation that has already seen enough problems.
Iraq could very well be on the brink of civil war. Iraq’s sectarian crisis is stifling a country that has the potential to become one of the world’s biggest oil exporters. Libyans are turning on one another, and the power struggle in Egypt is increasingly worrying.
The Arab region is in desperate need of a uniting force. Having grown up in Jordan, one of my most distinct memories is the strong sense of Pan-Arabism that I was taught at school; that all Arabs were brothers and sisters, and that through this unity we would always stick together and support each another.
What these countries need is increased support from their own region. Although neither of their situations are the same, any intervention needs to come from a source that understands the underlying needs and mentality in the region, and that has a collective interest in securing its stability.
The League has begun to flex its muscles over the past year or so. It took a particularly strong stance against the Qaddafi regime, mainly driven by Qatar. With Syria, it has joined international steps to isolate Assad, by suspending Syrian membership and initiating joint efforts with the UN, but more needs to be done.
The situation in Syria does not need more talks, it needs a solution. Assad is not taking any international measures seriously and needs to be held to account. Who better to endorse the referral of Assad and his regime to the International Criminal Court than the Arab League? Who would be more qualified to mediate negotiations between Syrian opposition groups and guide an orderly transition than their own neighbours?
In other countries that are undergoing political transitions, the potential for power monopolization is dangerous. The League needs to step up its efforts in mediating and guiding such transitions to make sure that power gets into the right hands.
The growing sectarian divides are threatening to tear countries such as Iraq and Syria apart, and if the Arab League steps in it would do more than bring stability. An active regional presence that is clearly unified would help to restore that sense of pride in Arab culture and unity to countries that are suffering from internal conflicts.
It is time for members of the League to put their differences aside and start unifying their efforts in taking concrete steps towards ensuring a collective stability. They need to seize this opportunity to prevent the current situation from worsening – if not for the region’s interests, then at least for their own countries’ interests.
Image Sabri Elmhedwi/EPA
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