Mitri: Arab FMs, Except for Muallem, Stressed Need to Give Priority to Elections

Acting Foreign Minister Tarek Mitri uncovered that Arab Foreign Ministers who met in Cairo last Sunday had all, but Syria”s FM, stressed on the need to end the long-running political crisis in Lebanon by electing a new president.

 

He said several Arab foreign ministers stressed the need to give priority to electing a consensus president.

 

“Yet Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem”s words did not imply that he was honestly with the Lebanese and Arab consensus,” Mitri said.

 

“The spirit of the Arab initiative gives priority to electing a consensus president,” he said.

 

He said Muallem insisted that the Arab initiative was a full package that “cannot be divided.”

 

Arab foreign ministers on Sunday urged Lebanon”s feuding factions to resolve their political crisis and elect a new president to fill a post that has been empty for two months.

 

The ministers urged all sides in the dispute to vote for army commander Gen. Michel Suleiman in a new parliamentary session set for February 11, the 13th attempt to choose a president.