27 February 2008

BEIRUT: Arab League chief Amr Moussa said on Tuesday it was time for regional parties to try to resolve their disputes in order to facilitate a solution to Lebanon's political crisis.

"Lebanese leaders have given all that they could. It is now time for regional parties to work out their differences in order to pave the way for a settlement in Lebanon," said.

Shortly after Moussa left Beirut without achieving any breakthrough in Lebanon's political logjam, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said Syria was part of the problem in Lebanon, calling on Damascus to help resolve the 15-month crisis before hosting an Arab summit next month.

"The summit will be held in Syria and Syria is linked to the Lebanese problem. Therefore I hope that Syria would solve the problem," Mubarak said in remarks aired on Al-Arabiya television on Tuesday.

"We should not be [in Damascus] resolving a problem that Syria is a party to," he said during a visit to Bahrain as part of tour of Gulf countries aimed at unifying positions ahead of the annual Arab League summit.

Lebanese Premier Fouad Siniora said last week the summit would collapse if Lebanon remained without a president.

Syria is keen for high-level representation at the March 29-30 summit but Arab divisions over Lebanon have cast a shadow over the meeting. Diplomats said Saudi King Abdullah and Mubarak might skip the event.

A senior Syrian Foreign Ministry official said on Sunday that Damascus hopes a president will be elected in Lebanon in time to attend the meeting.

Kuwaiti daily Al-Qabas on Tuesday quoted senior Arab sources as saying that the summit might be held outside Syria.

"Arab leaders might decide to take the summit to another Arab capital instead of boycotting it," the sources said.

Arab diplomatic sources told the Central News Agency Gulf states are expected to come out with a unified position on Lebanon as the Gulf Cooperation Council is due to meet next Sunday.

Veteran political analyst Nuhad al-Mashnouq told The Daily Star on Tuesday that Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, UAE, Egypt, and Jordan have already made up their minds on not attending the summit with top-level representation.

Mashnouq said Lebanon's feuding parties have decided, despite the failure of mediations, not to call off the Arab efforts.

"Lebanese parties are not looking for an escalation. They want to keep the truce running," he said, adding that the March 14 Forces are not likely to take any escalatory measures, such as electing a new president with a simple majority vote.

Meanwhile, Russian Ambassador to Lebanon Sergey Bukin said on Tuesday Moscow supports the election of Lebanese Armed Forces head General Michel Suleiman as president as soon as possible. However, he stressed Suleiman must be elected by consensus.

Bukin said he was disappointed by the failure  so far of Arab mediation efforts aimed at ending Lebanon's crisis.

"But the Arab initiative did not end. It is still standing and Russia will continue to support it as long as it stands," he added.

Bukin said Russia believes that the Arab League will succeed in "salvaging" Lebanon.

Meanwhile, opposition leader MP Michel Aoun's Reform and Change parliamentary bloc accused the ruling coalition on Tuesday of rejecting all compromises and solutions.

The bloc said in a statement that Aoun briefed members of his bloc on the recent talks that were sponsored by Moussa.

"The ruling coalition rejected all solutions as it wants to maintain its power monopoly," the statement said.

"Faced with many concessions by the opposition, represented by Aoun, the ruling coalition showed absolutely no flexibility," it added. "The parliamentary majority is to be blamed for obstructing the implementation of the Arab initiative."

The three-point initiative calls for the election of Suleiman as president, the formation of a national unity government, and the drafting of a new electoral law for the 2009 parliamentary elections.

The feuding parties agreed on electing Suleiman, but are still at odds over the shape of the next government, the new electoral law, as well as other issues.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea defended the ruling coalition's position on the electoral law.

"We want the electoral law to be based on the qada, but this does not necessarily mean that we should apply the 1960 electoral law," he said.

"The 1960 law was based on the qada, but at the same time it merged some counties. This is not in the interest of the Christians. We want the smallest possible electoral constituency."

Rifi confident 'no party wants civil war in the country'

Hussein Abdallah

Daily Star staff

BEIRUT: The head of the Internal Security Forces (ISF), Brigadier General Ashraf Rifi, told The Daily Star on Tuesday that "the security situation in the country is relatively stable" despite the failure of Arab mediation.

"A political settlement would have relieved us and facilitated our mission, but what can we do? We have to deal with the situation as it is," Rifi said, adding that all parties are positively cooperating with the army and security forces.

"I will not worry about the security situation as long as all parties keep up their promises and commitments," he said.

"It became clear to everybody following the recent clashes that no party wants civil war in the country. Things are working just fine since the last security meeting that we had with representatives of the feuding parties," he added.

Rifi was referring to a February 17 meeting aimed at containing tensions in Beirut after the breakout of street clashes between opposition and pro-government supporters, wounding at least 20 people.

Fears of sectarian strife have been growing in the country since the last clashes, which erupted in mixed Sunni-Shiite areas in the capital.

The clashes have led Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain to warn their citizens against travel to Lebanon.

© Copyright The Daily Star 2008.

 

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