By NNN-KUNA
Cairo : Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa received visiting Lebanese Minister of Information Ghazi Al-Aridi in CAIRO Monday to review the developments in Lebanon.
The meeting probed ways to activate the Arab initiative on the Lebanese political standoff, the minister told reporters.
“There will be no recourse to civil war in Lebanon. None of us seeks to reach that extreme,” he said in an apparent reference to the statements made by Walid Jumblatt – the leader of the ruling coalition partner Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) – on Sunday.
Jumblatt has reportedly threatened to go to war against the opposition bloc in case the current stalemate continued.
“All of the Lebanese people had experienced the calamities of the civil war (1975-1990) and cannot think of going back to it.
“They used all weapons in the war, and then returned to the negotiating table at the end,” Al-Aridi recalled.
He termed the Arab initiative the best means for reaching a negotiated settlement of the Lebanese presidential standoff.
Al-Aridi voiced hope that the Lebanese political forces would reach consensus on appointing the army chief General Michel Suleiman as new head of state on Feb 26, the new date slated by the Lebanese parliament recently.
The Lebanese minister refuted reports that termed Moussa’s recent mediation in Lebanon as failure.
“The mission has yet to reach the desired targets,” he said, adding “all of us have to work together to reach these targets.” Blaming the opposition bloc for the continued stalemate, Al-Aridi said: “The ruling majority in Lebanon made a lot of concessions to settle the crisis … and the Arab League secretary general knows that well.”
In DAMASCUS, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem voiced regret at the ongoing escalation in Lebanon as detrimental to national reconciliation in the country.
Speaking at a joint news conference with visiting Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Luiz Nunes Amorim, he expressed hope that the current critical situation in Lebanon would be resolved soon.
He reiterated Syria’s support for the Arab initiative aiming to put an end to the Lebanese deadlock, hoping that Moussa could successfully attain his mediation mission in Lebanon ahead of the forthcoming Arab summit in Damascus late March.
On his part, Amorim described Syrian-Brazilian relations as excellent, pointing to ties bonding both countries, praising Syria’s efforts in evacuating 3,000 Brazilian citizens from Lebanon during the Israeli aggression of the country in 2006.
Lebanon has been embroiled in a presidential vacuum since Nov 23 2007 due to splits and divisions between majority and opposition camps.
Rival Lebanese factions have agreed in principle to elect Army Chief General Michel Suleiman, but have repeatedly disagreed over constitutional details and the make-up of the cabinet. The deadlock over the president is Lebanon’s worst political crisis since the country’s long civil war ended in 1990.
Meanwhile, in PARIS, France said Monday that it had taken note from statements by Moussa that the Arab initiative for peace in Lebanon “was still in play,” and authorities in the French capital expressed ongoing support for the Arab League efforts.
“France, as it has done since the beginning, alongside the European Union, continues to bring its full support to the Arab plan adopted last January in the spirit of the ideas which we defended,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Pascale Andreani said.
“The Secretary-General of the Arab League indicated upon leaving Beirut that the Arab initiative is still in play,” the official remarked, quoting Amr Moussa.
“We thus support the efforts being deployed by Mr. Amr Moussa with a view of full implementation of this plan, which must mean, firstly, the immediate holding of a presidential election,” Andreani said.
In another development, an intruding vehicle fired shots close to the residence of Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nebih Berri in the Lebanese capital, Lebanese Parliament Police Command said in a statement on Sunday.
The vehicle was seen attempting to bridge security fences near the house at nine o’clock local time in Ain Al-Tinah, and shots were fired at the guards of the residential area, the statement noted.
Security measures were taken, and no one was hurt during the incident, the statement said.
Meanwhile, Lebanese Future party issued a statement warning participants not to use motorcades and further “participate peacefully and widely in the third anniversary of the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Al-Hariri next Thursday,” the statement said.
In recent days the Lebanese capital witnessed various incidents and tensions due to the ongoing political conflict in the country.