By Xinhua
Cairo : Arab foreign ministers on Saturday evening called for a swift consensus on Lebanese presidential election to choose army chief General Michel Suleiman as president, the Egyptian MENA news agency reported.
After a consultative meeting of Arab foreign ministers, the Arab League Council agreed on an overall plan to solve the Lebanese crisis, calling on all parties in Lebanon to reach an immediate agreement on forming a national unity government in line with the constitution.
Arab foreign ministers also stressed the necessity to draft a new election law in Lebanon following the holding of the Lebanese presidential election and forming a new government.
Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa was entrusted with holding contacts with all Lebanese, Arab, regional and international parties to implement the council’s decision, according to MENA.
The council’s meeting at the foreign ministers’ level on Jan. 27 will follow up the outcome of Moussa’s efforts in this respect, the report added.
Lebanon is facing the most critical situation since the 1975 civil war which has wrecked the country for 15 years.
The Lebanese presidential seat has been vacant since Emile Lahoud ended his term on Nov. 24, 2007 and the sharply divided Lebanese parliament has delayed the new president elections for 11times till Jan. 12.
The consultative meeting of Arab foreign ministers on Saturday evening was aimed to prepare for Sunday’s extraordinary meeting of the Arab League Council at the foreign ministers’ level.
The meeting is expected to tackle the Lebanese political crisis, developments in the Palestinian territories and Palestinian-Israeli negotiations.
A detailed report will be presented by the Palestinian delegation to the extraordinary meeting to discuss negotiations with Israel, Israeli settlement policies that threaten the setting up of a Palestinian state, as well as Israel’s incessant aggressions in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.