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Arab League to Tackle Lebanon's Presidential Crisis

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Written by News Editor

Sunday, 30 December 2007

A row broke out between the Arab League and the opposition over a joint Arab effort to facilitate the election of a president for Lebanon as Russia criticized some regional powers and the opposition for blocking the process. Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa told a news conference in Cairo Arab Foreign Ministers would discuss the Lebanese Presidential crisis next week at the request of Saudi Arabia and Egypt, noting that he would dispatch his assistant Hisham Youssef to Beirut in the next few days to set the stage for the meeting. Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a prominent figure in the Hizbullah-led opposition, was fast in responding to Moussa's stand, saying there is no need for Youssef's visit to Beirut. In a cable to Moussa, Berri said: "There is no need for a fact-finding visit to Lebanon. Achieving Arab reconciliation would be sufficient for Lebanon's well being." Berri apparently did not reject the pan-Arab meeting, but his call for inter-Arab reconciliation appeared to confirm charges by the March 14 majority that Syria is blocking the presidential election. Meanwhile, the Russian Parliament accused some "opposition blocs" and unnamed regional powers of hampering the presidential election, a move that could indicate a shift in Moscow's traditional stand regarding the ongoing Lebanese political crisis. Amidst such regional and foreign developments, Premier Fouad Saniora held telephone discussions with Moussa as well as the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia and Egypt focusing on the presidential crisis. "Any effort to work out a solution in line with constitutional principles is welcome," Saniora said. The Arab League move was announced hours after a parliamentary session scheduled for Saturday to elect a new president was postponed, sending the presidential vote to the year 2008. The postponement was the 11th since the first attempt by Lebanon's sharply divided parliament to elect a new president in September. A statement re-scheduled the session for Jan. 12. But the statement insisted there was no need to amend the constitution to elect Gen. Michel Suleiman, citing Article 74 of the Lebanese constitution. According to the statement, this stipulates that "in case of a presidential vacancy... parliament meets immediately to elect a new president, which excludes the (need for) amendment." The presidential office has been vacant since pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud's term ended Nov. 23.

 

 

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