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Also Wednesday members of the U.N. Security Council will be called to order at an open ministerial meeting by Germany's Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, whose country holds the council's rotating presidency, to discuss "change in the Arab world." With no sign of an end to the Security Council's paralysis over intervening to end the raging Syrian civil war, Germany's U.N. Ambassador Peter Wittig said his country chose to focus the council's ministerial session on something new and positive in the Mideast
-- "the emergence of the Arab League as a regional actor that has proved to be essential for conflict resolution." The 21-member Arab League has shaken off decades of near total submission to the will of the region's leaders and is seeking to transform itself after the seismic changes brought about by the Arab Spring. The league has supported the rebels who ousted Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi and suspended Syria in response to President BasharAssad's brutal crackdown against his opponents. "This organization is promoting the values that the United Nations is standing for
-- human rights, rule of law, democracy, pluralism," the fight against corruption and promoting economic opportunity, Wittig said. Also Wednesday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the African Union and France have called a ministerial meeting on unrest in Africa's Sahel region. It will spotlight the worsening security and humanitarian situation in northern Mali, which fell to al-Qaeda-linked Islamists after a March coup. Mali and a West African bloc are seeking U.N. support for an intervention force that would consist of aerial support and five battalions, or about 3,000 troops, to help recover the northern territory. But the Security Council wants the Economic Community of West African States, known as ECOWAS, to consult more widely, present more detailed proposals, and exhaust all prospects for negotiations. Wittig has said the Mali request will be discussed at a later date.
[Associated
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