EGYPT: Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora says that solving Lebanon's political crisis would heal Syrian-Lebanese relations

Record ID: 644679

  • Title: EGYPT: Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora says that solving Lebanon's political crisis would heal Syrian-Lebanese relations
  • Date: 6th April 2008
  • Summary: (MER1) CAIRO, EGYPT (6 APRIL, 2008) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF EGYPTIAN PRESIDENTIAL PALACE
  • Embargoed: 21st April 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Egypt
  • Country: Egypt
  • Reuters ID: LVA3TCWSYYAT8JY80AUUCN591MEB
  • Story Text: Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora justified on Sunday (April 6) Lebanon's absence at a recent Arab Summit as necessary to protest the country's political stalemate, which his government has blamed on interference from neighboring Syria.
    Siniora made the comments to reporters after meeting in Cairo with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who, along with the leaders of Jordan and Saudi Arabia, were the other key US allies who stayed away from the March 29-30th Summit in Damascus.
    "And for our part we did not attend the summit and we took this decision. It was not our intention to cause damage to the Arab summit or to the leaders of the Arab summit, for whom we always wish success, as well as for the Arab League. But we wanted to deliver our voice in a clear way and say that Lebanon is still suffering in a big way from the interference which delays electing a new president for the republic and delays progress in the democratic institutions like the Parliament, which has not met for nearly 17 months," Siniora told reporters.
    Siniora, whose pro-US government is deadlocked with the Hezbollah led opposition, allied with Iran and Syria, also said a recent initiative sought to break the political stalemate.
    "The majority will not have the necessary number of votes to impose decisions, nor will the minority have the numbers necessary for stopping a meeting from hepenning or forming so-called blocking third. This is the idea of the Arab initiative, and we consider it and Lebaese-Syrian relations to be one issue. Therefore this process begins with the election of the president of the republic and we will move in the direction of a solution," he said.
    The Lebanese Prime Minister also called for a meeting of Arab foreign ministers to help heal the Syrian-Lebanese rift.
    "Lebanon has proposed working towards a meeting of the Arab Foreign Ministers to discuss the main issues, especially the Syrian-Lebanese relations, in a way that would lead to allowing institutions to perform their roles once again and to consolidating the role of the Lebanese state that has suffered to such a degree that it has been stripped of all substance," he said.
    States critical of Syria either boycotted the summit or sent low-level delegations, and the meeting produced few tangible results. The assembled delegations warned Israel that Arab countries would review an Arab peace offer unless the Jewish state changes its behaviour, but did not say what steps would be taken.
    On Lebanon, the Damascus Declaration broke no new ground, saying the Arab leaders stand by the Arab initiative which endorses army chief Michel Suleiman as a consensus president.
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