Algerian Foreign Minister Mourad Medelci said on Tuesday that an Arab League committee charged with seeking an end to the violence in Syria had reached agreement with Syrian authorities, Al-Arabiya television reported. Al-Arabiya gave no further details. Syrian officials contacted by telephone had no immediate comment on the report. Algerian and Egyptian diplomats in Cairo, where Arab League foreign ministers are due to meet on Wednesday, said they had no information as to whether an agreement had been reached. Arab League ministers including Medelci met Syrian officials in Qatar on Sunday to seek a way to end bloodshed in Syria, where President Bashar al-Assad has staged a military crackdown to crush seven months of protests against his rule. Arab diplomats said the ministers proposed that Syria release immediately prisoners held since February, withdraw security forces from the streets, permit deployment of Arab League monitors and start a dialogue with the opposition. Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani, whose country heads the ministerial committee, also said Assad must launch serious reforms if Syria were to avoid further violence. The United Nations says more than 3000 people have been killed in the crackdown in Syria. The government says armed groups have killed 1100 members of the security forces.
