LEBANON: The Foreign Ministers of Sweden, Bulgaria and Poland meet with Lebanese officials to discuss regional issues, including the crisis in Syria

Record ID: 281094

  • Title: LEBANON: The Foreign Ministers of Sweden, Bulgaria and Poland meet with Lebanese officials to discuss regional issues, including the crisis in Syria
  • Date: 23rd June 2012
  • Summary: BEIRUT, LEBANON (JUNE 22, 2012) (REUTERS) VEHICLES CARRYING BULGARIAN, POLISH AND SWEDISH FOREIGN MINISTERS ARRIVING LEBANESE PARLIAMENT BUILDING VARIOUS OF EUROPEAN FOREIGN MINISTERS AND LEBANESE PARLIAMENT COMMITTEE OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS IN MEETING POLISH FOREIGN MINISTER RADOSLAW SIKORSKI AT THE MEETING MEETING IN PROGRESS OFFICIALS STANDING OUTSIDE PARLIAMENT (SOUN
  • Embargoed: 8th July 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Lebanon
  • Country: Lebanon
  • Topics: Conflict,International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA4LWX6NJ0W2HQPPG8LXCF3NSZT
  • Story Text: Swedish, Bulgarian and Polish foreign ministers met with politicians in Lebanon on Friday (June 22) in a European Union-backed effort to urge political blocks to cooperate in preventing violence in Syria from spilling over into its smaller neighbour.
    Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nikolay Mladenov, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski and Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt met with members of the Lebanese Parliament as well as the President Michel Suleiman and Speaker Nabih Berri.
    Lebanon has seen clashes between supporters and opponents of the uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and its border region has been used by rebels to smuggle arms into Syria and take refuge from Syrian troops.
    Lebanon's politicians are at odds over the Syrian revolt, with Shi'ite Muslim Hezbollah supporting Assad, who is a longtime ally, and others supporting the revolt.
    Most agree that Syria's crisis has the potential to destabilize Lebanon, which suffered 15 years of civil war.
    The Bulgarian FM said he was pleased with the progress made by the Lebanese government thus far.
    "It was encouraging to hear that there is a lot of agreement in the Lebanese parliament on the need to keep the country insulated from the conflict in Syria, to stress the importance of building the institutions in Lebanon, the Lebanese Army," said Mladenov after meeting with members of Lebanese parliament.
    On June 11, rival Lebanese politicians met for the first National Dialogue meeting in over 18 months and agreed to give the army financial resources to tackle any violence spurred on Syria-related tensions.
    Fearing a spill-over of violence, many politicians have been careful not to reignite tensions, but there are fears that protracted war in Syria will break the tacit agreement.
    More than 10,000 people have been killed in the 15-month-old crisis in Syria and at least 500,000 have been internally displaced, and the United Nations says at least 1 million are in need of help.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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