French foreign minister says Lebanon crisis can “only be blamed on Lebanese”

 

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner on Friday blamed feuding Lebanese parties for the failure to implement the three-point Arab initiative to end Lebanon”s protracted crisis.

 

“The failure so far of different initiatives to resolve Lebanon”s crisis is not to be blamed on Arabs or France or any other foreign party. It is only to be blamed on the Lebanese,” Kouchner told a news conference in France.

 

Only three weeks ahead of an upcoming Arab summit, scheduled for March 29 and 30 in Damascus, Lebanon has yet to be invited to the gathering.

 

But Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora told local newspaper As-Safir on Thursday that an invitation will be delivered to the Lebanese government after March 11, the date of a scheduled House session to elect a new president for Lebanon.

 

Siniora said the invitation should be handed to the Lebanese government in Beirut through a Syrian minister. He added that the Lebanese Council of Ministers would collectively decide who will represent Lebanon at the summit.

 

Siniora played down the possibility that Moussa would return to Beirut soon and predicted the Arab League chief would send one of his assistants instead to tackle the issue of improving Lebanese-Syrian ties.

 

Siniora on Friday contacted the Egyptian and Saudi foreign ministers and discussed with them the latest developments on the Lebanese and Arab scenes.

 

Arab foreign ministers in Cairo on Wednesday asked Moussa to work to improve ties between Beirut and Damascus.

 

Moussa met US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Welsh in Cairo on Thursday to discuss  the ongoing Arab efforts aimed at ending Lebanon”s political crisis, according to Egypt”s MENA news agency.

 

After the meeting, Welsh accused Syria of not committing to regional peace.

 

“Syria and peace do not go together,” he told reporters.

 

“The United States is not concerned about changing the Syrian regime, but is worried about the Syrian people,” he added.

 

Meanwhile, Hizbullah, a major ally of Damascus, accused the United States on Friday of declaring war against the Lebanese opposition.
 

The party”s senior official Nawaf Moussawi said Hizbullah will fight to prevent US hegemony over Lebanon.

Meanwhile, Moussa”s assistant Hisham Youssef told Al-Arabiya satellite news television that the Arab summit is only conditioned by the rules set by the Arab League.

 

“If a president is not elected on the due date, the invitation will be sent to the Lebanese Cabinet,” he said.

 

Youssef added that it is up to the Lebanese government to decide on whom Lebanon”s representative to the summit will be. “As far as I know, all Arab states will participate in the summit. However, the level of representation depends on the circumstances,” he said.

 

Youssef added that intensive efforts will be made in the coming days to ensure a solution to the Lebanese crisis.

 

Leaders of Arab heavyweights Egypt and Saudi Arabia are not likely to attend the Arab summit if a Lebanese president is not elected by the end of March. But surprisingly on Thursday, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) said President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan will attend the Damascus summit. 

 

According to Syrian official sources, the leaders of 12 Arab states have confirmed their presence at the summit.

 

Meanwhile, an Arab diplomat in Beirut told the Central News Agency on Friday that “mounting Arab and international pressure on Syria might force it to facilitate the election of a Lebanese president ahead of the Damascus summit.”

 

Also on Friday, Former President Amine Gemayel said he was still hoping that a fresh Arab effort would help end Lebanon”s protracted crisis.

 

Gemayel had said earlier this week that the Arab initiative had reached a dead end.

 

Meanwhile, Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea arrived in Washington on a scheduled visit after receiving an invitation from the US administration.

 

Geagea, who is heading a delegation that includes Tourism Minister Joe Sarkis and MP Strida Geagea, is expected to meet a number of senior US officials in the coming days.