The Daily Star Editorial

An Arab League observer mission has been in Syria this week, ostensibly to monitor the actions of the Syrian regime, but the observer team itself is drawing considerable scrutiny.
 
While many in Syria were skeptical to begin with, it could be said that their negative reaction to the observer mission was premature. But with the mission now under way, there is little reassuring about its activity.
 
The head of the mission, Sudan’s Mustafa al-Dabi, made positive comments about the situation in the country upon his arrival, and about the situation in Homs a few days later. Each time Dabi opens his mouth, either he or the Arab League headquarters in Cairo are obliged to step in with spin control, “explaining” what the man said.
 
The monitors are supposed to verify that the Syrian government is living up to its commitments to withdraw military forces from the street and release prisoners. Instead, there are reports that detainees are being moved around by the government, to hide them from the monitors, while there have been multiple scenes of troops in the streets as peaceful demonstrations take place.
 
The Syrian government is obliged to let the monitors do their work unimpeded. Instead, Syrian military minders are busy “observing the observers” and discouraging people from speaking freely.
 
In short, there is little to signal that the Syrian government, which has followed a policy of procrastination, and rhetoric based on conspiracy theories, has changed its behavior.
 
Moreover, the Arab League should feel obliged to defend its own actions, since it tasked a Sudanese army general – with a troubling past in his country’s Darfur rebellion – with leading this mission.
 
The Arab League has regularly come under fire from elements of the Syrian opposition for not doing enough to end the crisis in Syria – and when it does act, its choices invite considerable skepticism and alarm.
 
But the observer mission is not something to be dismissed lightly. The Free Syrian Army has reportedly announced that it would stop its military actions against government forces in a bid to meet with the observers.
 
Meanwhile, despite all of the protesters’ hand-held signs complaining about the performance of the Arab League, the observer mission is having a significant impact. It is no coincidence that the public in a number of Syrian cities has come out in huge numbers to protest against the regime of President Bashar Assad while the observers are in the country.
 
As the death toll continues to rise, the Arab League faces one of its biggest challenges ever. It has a responsibility to ensure that its observers do the right thing, and tell the world what is going on in Syria. The Arab League’s credibility has never been particularly high, but the current mission in Syria is an opportunity for the institution, finally, take a much-needed step forward.