Moussa warns Lebanese rivals to reconcile while they still can
Arab League chief Amr Moussa warned Wednesday that should the Arab initiative fail to resolve the impasse in Lebanon, international powers could intervene. Moussa, who was in Kuwait for a meeting with senior officials, told reporters that any further delay in electing a new president will harm the country”s stability.
“It is essential that a new president is elected as soon as possible. Any delay in electing a president is a blow to Lebanon”s stability,” Moussa said. “It is vital to rescue Lebanon from becoming a scene for regional conflicts,” he added.
“The [Arab League] initiative still has a good chance to succeed,” Moussa said, “but the Arab and regional situation has to help us make more progress.”
“I call on the leaders of Lebanon not to miss that chance,” Moussa said, adding he was in daily contact with them and that he might travel to Beirut before the election date. Moussa warned that if the Lebanese do not stop their political bickering, they will become “a toy in the hands of many powers.”
Locally, Sunday”s tragic events continued to dominate the political scene. Prime Minister Fouad Siniora telephoned the heads of several Christian and Muslim sects, describing Sunday”s events as a “nightmare” that had befallen everyone in the country and must not be repeated.
The premier also called for an end to provocations through the media. “We want to raise a new generation to see them carry the banner of development and progress … The families of those who fell did not raise their children to see them fall in the streets or come to such a sad end, which can never be accepted or allowed to be repeated,” Siniora said.
Among those contacted by the prime minister to discuss the riots were the head of the Higher Shiite Council, Sheikh Abdel-Amir Qabalan; Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir; Grand Mufti Sheikh Mohammad Rashid Qabbani; Beirut Orthodox Archbishop Elias Aoude, senior Shiite cleric Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah and Jbeil Maronite Bishop Beshara al-Rai.
Siniora commended the positions taken by the Higher Shiite Council and the leaderships of Amal and Hizbullah in calling for restraint and warning of the risk of the country plunging into strife.
“The state”s institutions are guardians of its citizens,” Siniora said. “We are in a democratic country and our institutions are transparent and are committed to operating within the law and enforcing it, ready to own up to mistakes when they are found and hold those culpable accountable.”
The premier called on the Lebanese to await the results of investigations being conducted by the army and the judiciary.
Defense Minister Elias Murr, who returned from abroad where he was undergoing medical treatment, offered his condolences Wednesday to the families of the protesters who were slain. He said what happened Sunday targeted the army and citizens equally and threatens security and stability and only serves Lebanon”s enemies.
“I consider those victims as the martyrs of Lebanon and the army. The government did well to declare them martyrs of the nation and that it is responsible for their families” welfare,” Murr said.
Democratic Gathering leader MP Walid Jumblatt telephoned Suleiman Wednesday to state his “total support” for the military establishment and express his confidence that investigations into Sunday”s riots would be complete. He pointed to the need to uncover all details behind the tragic events.
Jumblatt praised the role of the army which he said had once again proven its concern for the safety of civilians, pointing to battles around the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp in the North of the country last summer.
He said the army”s record shows clearly that it stands at equal distance from all the Lebanese as it preserves civil peace and internal stability.
Speaker Nabih Berri on Wednesday received cables from Saudi Ambassador Abdel-Aziz Khoja, French Charge d”Affaires Andre Parant and Beirut Maronite Archbishop Bulos Matar, among others, offering condolence on the deaths of those killed during the riots.
Also Wednesday, Parliamentary majority leader MP Saad HaririSaad-Hariri-Profile Sep-07 held meetings with both Khoja and Jordanian Ambassador Ziad al-Majali. According to Hariri”s office, the topics discussed included bilateral relations and internal developments in Lebanon.
On his recent tour in Syria, he said he had discussed with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad ways to salvage Lebanon and to create common Arab action towards a solution to the Lebanese standoff.