Welch calls on rival Lebanese parties to elect new president

 

US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Welch called on rival Lebanese parties Thursday to head to Parliament and elect a new president, adding that the perfect place for holding national dialogue was Parliament itself. “There are state institutions in which dialogue can be held,” Welch told reporters after meeting Premier Fouad Siniora

 

“Dialogue would be possible whenever the Parliament opens its doors and a new president is elected,” he added.

 

“The parliament is the right place for dialogue,” Welch said, referring to the institution”s paralysis for over 16 months, adding that some groups have “unilaterally taken steps” to prevent the election of a president.

 

“It”s not good that this position, that of the president, has been vacant for so long because of course it is the most important Christian office in the land,” Welch said.

 

“Some who have been influenced by outsiders have unilaterally taken steps to arrest this political process, to facilitate their own goals … and those of their allies,” he added, referring to the Hizbullah-led opposition, Syria, and Iran.

 

Welch said the US supported the three-point Arab League initiative which calls for the immediate election of a president, the formation of a national unity government, and the drafting of a new electoral law for the 2009 parliamentary elections.

 

He added that the international tribunal set up to try those behind the 2005 assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri was an “irreversible” process.

 

Before meeting Siniora, Welch met a delegation from the March 14 Forces at the residence of former MP Fares Soueid.

 

The delegation handed over to the US official a memorandum calling on the United States to maintain its backing for Lebanon against foreign parties that want the country to be an arena for regional conflicts, as well as to back Lebanese and Arab efforts aimed at achieving the unconditional election of a new president.

 

It also held Syria responsible for the crisis in Lebanon, stressing that the main problem was between Beirut and Damascus.

 

The March 14 Forces asked the US to back efforts aimed at pressuring Syria to demarcate its border with Lebanon and establish diplomatic relations with its smaller neighbor.
 

The memorandum also called for speeding up the establishment of the international tribunal, and requested that the US back the Lebanese Army and the Internal Security Forces with training and equipment.

 

The memo addressed the issue of the Israeli-occupied Shebaa Farms, calling on the United States to urge the international community to work on putting the area under United Nations sovereignty.

 

The March 14 Forces also asked for Washington”s help in forming an international investigation committee to probe the fate of Lebanese detainees in Syrian jails,  and demanded US backing for the Lebanese government and Palestinian Authority”s positions on rejecting the naturalizing of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon.

Welch also met with opposition leader Speaker Nabih Berri on Thursday.

 

The US diplomat and a number of March 14 Forces MPs had dinner at the residence of Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt.

 

Welch arrived in Lebanon Thursday to discuss the protracted presidential crisis with rival political leaders, Lebanese officials said.

 

Welch”s visit also comes days before lawmakers are scheduled to make an 18th attempt to elect a successor to former President Emile Lahoud, who stepped down at the end of his term in office in November 2007.

 

US Embassy spokeswoman Cherie Lenzen said Welch”s previously unannounced visit coincides with a ceremony on Friday to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the US Embassy bombing in Beirut in which 60 people were killed.

 

An embassy official told AFP that families of the Lebanese victims of the 1983 attack would attend Friday”s ceremony, while the families of the American victims will attend a parallel ceremony in the United States.

A US Embassy vehicle was the target of a bomb attack that killed three young Lebanese earlier this year.

 

In a separate development, US President George W. Bus and Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday voiced their support for Lebanon”s independence and sovereignty. Benedict was on his first visit to the United States as pope.