Mubarak, Merkel Urge Quick End to Lebanon”s Presidential Crisis

Egyptian President Husni Mubarak and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have agreed on the need for a quick end to the Lebanese crisis and the immediate election of a new president.

 

The two sides agreed Wednesday on the “importance of ending the presidential crisis in Lebanon without delay in accordance with the Arab initiative,” Mubarak said after meeting Merkel in Berlin.

 

He stressed that Egypt wasn”t taking sides in the Lebanese crisis and its priority was to see Lebanon stable.

“We talk with the different sides, with March 14 and others,” Mubarak told reporters.

 

He said he told Lebanese Speaker Nabih Berri when they last met in Cairo that it was “important to solve the presidential problem and elect a head of state.”

 

The German Chancellor, in her turn, stressed the need to “achieve progress in this regard” and elect a new Lebanese president.

 

She also hoped that the commission investigating ex-Premier Rafik Hariri”s Feb. 2005 assassination would achieve results.

 

Also in Berlin, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr al-Thani stressed after meeting Merkel that a Lebanese president should be elected first “because the head of state will entrust the prime minister with forming the government and then agreement could be reached on all other issues.”