AL chief will be in Syria on January 18 to discuss Lebanon

 

Arab League chief will travel to Syria on January 18 to meet with the top Syrian officials to discus the situation in Lebanon and ending the crises over the presidential elections, according to Arab League ambassador Hesham Youssef.

 
The Secretary-General of the Arab League Amr Moussa today told reporters in Cairo, Egypt that he is consulting with a number of Arab leaders on the situation in Lebanon to prepare for a future visit to Beirut as soon as possible.

 

He explained in a statement to reporters that he did not fail in his mission to Beirut. The aim of his first trip to Beirut , he said was to introduce the Arab initiative to the various Lebanese factions and to prepare for future visits to end the crises. This explanation puzzled many observers in Lebanon , since it was widely reported that his mission was to end the crises before the scheduled election date of January 12 and he failed badly because the election date was postponed again, for the 12th time.

 

Moussa warned that Lebanon will be in big danger if the rival leaders don’t come to an agreement in ending the crises. He added …I stress that the country itself is in danger and not the majority nor the opposition .

 

As a first step he called on the rival factions to stop their media attacks , the accusations and counter accusations against each other in order to calm the situation and create an ambiance suitable for dialogue .

 

Moussa thinks an agreement is within reach , but requires positive efforts and tough decisions from all parties.

Moussa pointed out that there is hope in ending the Lebanese crisis in the next stage indicating that the most important achievements during his visit to Beirut was “preparation for a second visit and revitalizing the effort of resolving the crisis in Lebanon.”

 

He stressed at the same time that there is Arab support for his mission in Beirut, but he said “there is no plan for an Arab ministerial delegation to accompany him in his upcoming visit to Lebanon” as has been widely reported . He also denied a report alleging that Prime Minister of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem will come to Beirut to support his efforts .

 

Moussa thinks he may need more than one more trip to Lebanon to end the standoff.
In other words Lebanon should see more of Moussa before the crises is over .

 

Moussa did not blame any Arab country for the impasse, but his trip to Syria according to diplomatic sources is to convince its top officials to give the green light to its allies to cooperate on the three point Arab plan for ending the crises.