Siniora says lack of Lebanese president will sink Arab summit

 

Next month”s Arab summit in Syria will be undermined if a solution to Lebanon”s political crisis cannot be found by then, Prime Minister Fouad Siniora warned on Tuesday. The election of a new Lebanese president has been delayed since November and Siniora told Reuters efforts were being made to fill the post and prevent a power vacuum.

 

Siniora, whose anti-Syrian ruling coalition is locked in a 15-month power struggle against an opposition led by Hizbullah, said without a president, the summit would lose its value.

 

“I believe that the lack of representation of Lebanon on a presidential level at the summit will make the summit lose a lot of its importance,” he said.

 

“This summit should be attended by all the presidents and all the Arab countries. Let us imagine a summit without Lebanon having a presidential seat at it, how would it look?” asked Siniora, who was in Britain to meet with Premier Gordon Brown.

 

Diplomats and analysts say Saudi Arabia”s King Abdullah is unlikely to attend the Arab League summit unless Lebanon”s political crisis is resolved.

 

Saudi-owned Al-Hayat daily reported on Monday that Syria will facilitate a last-minute presidential election in Lebanon prior to the summit.

 

Citing European sources, Al-Hayat said Syria will facilitate the election of the commander of the Lebanese Armed Forces, General Michel Suleiman, as president to “force major Arab countries not to boycott” the summit slated to be held in Damascus on March 27-29.

 

Lebanon has still not received any official invitations yet from Syria to attend the annual summit in Damascus at the end of March.

 

Siniora has said Lebanon wanted “good relations” with all countries in the world, including Syria and Iran, but not with Israel, “our only enemy.”

 

“Relations, however, must be based on mutual respect,” Siniora told reporters in London Monday.

 

He stressed “it is not acceptable for Iran to view Lebanon as an arena for solving conflicts.”

 

Lebanon has been without a president since Emile Lahoud”s term ended in November 2007, plunging the country into the worst political crisis since the end of the 1975-1990 Civil War.

 

The war ended in 1990 but a Saudi-brokered peace pact has been strained to breaking point since the assassination in 2005 of former Premier Rafik Hariri.

In other developments on  Tuesday, the British premier offered his Lebanese counterpart his full backing Tuesday.

 

Following talks in London, Brown offered support to Siniora and the Arab League in their efforts to end the impasse over the election of a new president.

 

“His government has our strong support as it works to restore and strengthen the integrity of Lebanon”s institutions, and to protect Lebanon”s future as a tolerant and diverse democracy,” Brown said in a statement issued after the meeting. “The UK will continue to back the efforts of the Arab League to resolve Lebanon”s political impasse, to work closely with European and other international partners, and to continue our strong bilateral support.”

 

Lebanon”s Parliament recently postponed a session to elect a new president until February 26 – the 14th delay in three months.

 

Government supporters accuse Hizbullah of seeking to restore Syrian domination of Lebanon, while the opposition says Siniora”s government is putting the country in the control of the US and Israel.

 

Also on Tuesday, the EU called Lebanon”s institutional crisis unacceptable and said Lebanon should elect a president as soon as possible.

 

The Slovenian EU presidency said it was “sincerely worried” by the escalation of tensions in Lebanon.

“The situation is deteriorating,” Matjaz Sinkovec, secretary of state at Slovenia”s Foreign Ministry, said after talks between the EU and Lebanon”s acting Foreign Minister Tarek Mitri.

 

“The continuing institutional crisis in Lebanon is simply not acceptable,” Sinkovec told a news conference. “The parties need to return to dialogue in a spirit of compromise. It is crucial that the president is elected without delay.”

 

In separate developments, Muslim religious leaders are to hold a summit on Thursday to discuss the deteriorating situation in Lebanon.

 

The state-run National News Agency said the summit is to be held at the offices of the Higher Shiite Islamic Council.

 

The meeting would group Sunni mufti Sheikh Mohammad Rashid Qabbani, vice president of the Higher Shiite Council Sheikh Abdel-Amir Qabalan and Druze spiritual leader Sheikh Naim Hassan.