Lebanese held hostage by Damascus – Siniora

 

Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora accused Syria on Sunday of Lebanon and seeking a ransom from Saudi Arabia. “It is inappropriate for an Arab state to hold a brother state hostage to extract ransom from a third brother state,” he said. Speaking to reporters after meeting Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo, Siniora said that the three-point Arab initiative to end Lebanon”s political crisis has given priority to the election of a new president.

 

Siniora said that agreements on forming a national unity government and drafting a new electoral law for the 2009 elections should come after and not before electing a new head of state.

 

The prime minister explained to reporters that the Lebanese government”s recent decision to boycott the Arab summit in Damascus was not aimed at spoiling the gathering.

 

“It was a message to all Arabs that Lebanon is not in a normal state of affairs,” he said. “The country has been without a president for the last five months. It has been 17 months now since the last Parliament meeting.”

“We decided that boycotting the summit was the best way of stating our case before the Arab community, urging Arab states to settle inter-Arab differences and address the strained relations between Beirut and Damascus,” he added.

 

Siniora said that the commander of Lebanese Armed Forces, General Michel Suleiman, will remain the consensus presidential candidate even after he quits his post in the army.

 

Suleiman said last week that he will quit his post on August 21, three months ahead of his scheduled retirement.

 

Siniora also met his Egyptian counterpart, Ahmad Nazif, and Foreign Minister Ahmad Abu al-Gheit.

 

Meanwhile, Speaker Nabih Berri told Future News television on Saturday that he will visit Saudi Arabia, Syria, Qatar and France before calling for national dialogue among Lebanon”s feuding parties.

 

Berri said that the current position of the bickering parties will not stop him from pursuing national dialogue.

The speaker reiterated that his efforts do not conflict with the Arab initiative for Lebanon.

 

The initiative calls for the election of Suleiman, the forming of a national unity government, and the drafting of a new electoral law.

 

Since the rival camps have already agreed on electing Suleiman, Berri had said earlier that the dialogue would focus on the second and third items of the Arab initiative.
 

On Sunday, Lebanese Forces MP Georges Adwan told Voice of Lebanon Radio that Berri has taken sides in the country”s internal crisis and can no longer preside over national dialogue.

 

Future Movement MP Mustafa Allouch also said on Saturday that national dialogue should only take place under the auspices of a new president.

 

“Berri has taken sides and therefore cannot manage dialogue between the rival parties,” he told LBC television.

But Amal Movement MP Ali Hassan Khalil said on Sunday that Berri had said earlier that he would preside over national dialogue as head of Amal Movement and head of a bloc in Parliament. “Speaker Berri did not lie to the public about being a third party that is mediation between the ruling coalition and the opposition,” Khalil said.

“Berri is a key figure in the opposition and he will act accordingly,” he added.

 

Meanwhile, former President Amine Gemayel said on Sunday that Lebanon was facing a new form of war. “War does not necessarily have to include guns and fire. The war waged on Lebanon is a political one that aims at paralyzing state institutions and derailing the economy,” he said. 

 

“I call on the Lebanese people not to despair. We will resist this war and prevail in the end,” he added.

 

Meanwhile, the Lebanese daily An-Nahar quoted diplomatic sources on Sunday as saying that Saudi King Abdullah and Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Sabah discussed the Lebanon crisis among other regional issues during a meeting in Riyadh late Saturday.

 

The sources denied that the Kuwait visit aimed at mediation between Syrian and Saudi Arabia. Riyadh is at odds with Damascus over its policy in Lebanon. The leaders of Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan boycotted the Arab summit in Damascus last month over Syria”s alleged role in Lebanon”s political crisis.

 

In a separate development, French sources told the Italian news agency AKI on Friday that France was cooperating with the US to prepare a UN Security Council statement on Lebanon. “Negotiations are under way in New York,” the sources said. The Security Council is due to convene on Tuesday.