Solana calls for more pressure on Syria
March 14 leaders speak out against attending Arab league summit in damascus
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana called on Sunday for international pressure on Syria to facilitate the election of a new Lebanese president before an Arab summit in Damascus on March 29-30. “The pressure on Syria has to grow in order to solve at least the situation in Lebanon,” he said from Brussels.
“All the pressure has to be placed now, to see if the president of Lebanon can be elected before this summit. If that”s not the case I”d be very pessimistic about the coming period of time,” he said.
The Arab summit has been mired in controversy, with some states saying they will not attend without Lebanon”s Parliament electing a head of state.
“The summit will not be attended at the level it was supposed to be if that is not done,” Solana said.
Regional heavyweights Saudi Arabia and Egypt have blamed Syria – which was the dominant political and military force in Lebanon for decades – for obstructing the election.
Three ministers affiliated to Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt have decided to vote against attending the summit, putting pressure on the bloc”s pro-government allies to follow suit.
Jumblatt reiterated in an interview that he is against Lebanon attending summit.
“The ministers that represent me in the government will vote against participation in the summit,” Jumblatt told Future News television, according to excerpts of the interview to be aired on Sunday.
“We will not go to Damascus and abide by the orders of the Syrian regime,” he said, blaming Damascus for a string of assassinations in Lebanon.
Telecommunications Minister Marwan Hamadeh told the same channel Sunday that taking part in a conference hosted by Syrian President Bashar Assad is tantamount to treason.
Lebanese Forces boss Samir Geagea said on Sunday that Lebanon should not attend.
“The Syrian regime does not recognize Lebanon and refuses to demarcate borders. They occupied our country for 30 years and they are accused of being behind the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri,”
Geagea told the Kuwaiti daily Al-Rai in Washington. “Given all that, how are we expected to go to the summit?”
However, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem told the Kuwait daily Al-Anbaa on Sunday that Syria welcomes any Lebanese delegation that attends the Damascus summit.
“Syria welcomes any Lebanese delegation, even if it was headed by Prime Minister Fouad Siniora,” he said.
Siniora”s Cabinet is deemed illegitimate by Damascus” allies in Lebanon.
Meanwhile, a delegation of MPs mandated by the Arab League arrived on Sunday in Lebanon in a fresh bid to break a deep political impasse blocking the election of a president.
“We in the Arab world are concerned with the great rift in Lebanon as well as the fragile security situation,” Mohammad Jassem al-Saqr, head of the Arab Parliament, an arm of the Arab League, told reporters in Beirut.
“We will do all we can for national reconciliation in Lebanon,” he said at the start of a visit due to last several days.
The delegation is due to meet Siniora, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, and Hizbullah”s second-in-command, Sheikh Naim Qassem.
“If the situation requires we go to Syria, we will,” Saqr said.
Arab League chief Amr Moussa, who was engaged in brokering a deal between Lebanon”s feuding parties, told the Russian daily Frimia Novosti on Saturday that joint Arab efforts were needed to achieve a settlement in Lebanon.
Earlier this weekend, US President George W. BushMBA-Presidents Sep-07 sent a letter of support to Lebanon”s anti-Syrian March 14 Forces on the occasion of the grouping”s first congress, which was held on Friday in Beirut.
Bush praised “the courage and perseverance of the people who took part in the Cedar Revolution, which led to the withdrawal of Syrian forces from Lebanon three years ago.”
Bush praised the coalition for not giving up its “quest for a free and democratic Lebanon.”