By Joe Macaron, NNN-KUNA
Washington : A US official said on Friday that the United States will not support a Lebanese president with ties to terrorist groups or to powers outside Lebanon in the upcoming election next September.
Director of the Office of Egypt and Levant Affairs in the State Department, Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley, told KUNA that Washington backed the French initiative "to break the ice" in the deadlock between Lebanon's political leaders.
"We were not expecting any breakthrough, but it is a step forward," she added, noting that some parties were "not compromising sufficiently" to reach a solution despite Arab and international efforts.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner arrived in Beirut Friday and will summon representatives of rival Lebanese political leaders on Saturday in the French embassy in Beirut nearly 10 days after the round of talks at Saint Cloud near Paris.
Abercrombie-Winstanley added that the French "are following what they deem is appropriate," referring to the phone discussion last Tuesday between Kouchner and his Iranian counterpart Manouchehr Motaki over the situation in Lebanon, and called upon Tehran and Damascus to adhere to UN Security Council (UNSC) resolutions, in particular 1595 and 1701.
She said that her administration stood behind a presidential election "held in a timely fashion" without leading to circumstances that further destabilize the Lebanese government.
"It is hard to say how the crisis will unfold, the situation is complex," she added. Abercrombie-Winstanley praised how steadfast the people and government of Lebanon were in meeting the problems they faced in the last two years and "managed to move forward," hoping that in the coming period the Lebanese would be able "concentrate on building" their country.
The US official noted that the fear some had about how the outcome in Iraq could affect the situation in Lebanon was "unnecessary."
"We had long-standing issues with Damascus, if that is the case, they would have had an impact already on our support to Lebanon," she added, noting that her administration's commitment to Lebanon was "unwavering."
On the heated exchange of words between Hezbollah's secretary-general Hasan Nasrallah and the Lebanese prime ministr over who inspired the idea of deploying the Lebanese armed forces south of the country, she said that the United States worked with the Lebanese government to "put together a cease fire" in order to reach UNSC Resolution 1701.
"Hezbollah should not have started the war without the consent of the government," she added.
France and the US submitted last Wednesday a draft presidential statement to the UN Security Council addressing the wide range of challenges in Lebanon to implement Resolution 1701.
The US official pointed out that "negotiations are continuing" in the Security Council till there was a consensus on the draft and expected "a strong voice" in this "soon" adopted resolution.
Abercrombie-Winstanley confirmed that Undersecretary for Management Henrietta Fore did drop State Department plans to build a new headquarter for the US embassy in downtown Beirut.
"There were discussions, security is a first concern for us after hostlities last summer," she added, referring to the Israeli war on Lebanon in July 2006.
The US media reported that the State Department aborted a plan to build a new embassy in an area under the influence of Hezbollah after intense opposition from the US Ambassador in Lebanon Jeffrey Feltman during a classified cable to Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice end of last May.