Berri, Moussa Discuss “New Ideas” to Settle Crisis

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri on Monday discussed with Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa “new ideas to settle Lebanon”s crisis.”

 

The state-run National News Agency said Moussa initiated the telephone discussion.

 

The two, according to the terse report, stressed that Arab league efforts “persist, especially prior to March 11,” the schedule set for parliament to convene and elect a new president. The report did not disclose further details.

 

Earlier in the day, Berri received Arab ambassadors to Lebanon and “briefed them on developments pertaining to the Arab initiative and the Lebanese crisis,” NNA reported.

 

UAE Ambassador to Lebanon Mohammed al-Soueidi, said Berri briefed the Arab ambassadors on “all the details and the dialogue between the majority and the opposition.”

 

Berri, Soueidi said, is “very optimistic, as usual, and we hope Lebanon would have a president by March 11.”

“The Arab initiative, thank God, persists and we have high hopes in it.”

 

Asked who would represent Lebanon at the forthcoming Arab Summit conference scheduled for March 29 in Damascus, Soueidi said: “If a president was elected it would only be normal for him to represent Lebanon.”