MP Salim Aoun: The decisions of the Arab foreign ministers will lead nowhere

Source: Nowlebanon.com, 21-1-2008
MP Salim Aoun of the Change and Reform bloc said that Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa's explanation of the league's initiative is contradictory.
MP Aoun hinted at the possibility of establishing the government based on a formula that prevents both the opposition and the pro-government party from deciding on issues alone.
"Moussa's interpretation is in favor of March 14," Aoun told NOW Lebanon. "I call on the Arab League to remain an arbiter and not take sides," he said.
He also said that the opposition is still waiting for Arab ministers to give clarifications over the initiative.
"Moussa's stance on giving interpretations is ambivalent," Aoun said. "If we try to interpret the clause calling for the establishment of a national-unity government, we come to the three-thirds formula."
Aoun welcomed Moussa's abstention from giving interpretations if it is aimed at giving the Lebanese a chance to reach an agreement. "However, if the aim is to open the door to different interpretations, then it is no longer an initiative," he added.
He also said that the problem is a Lebanese one and reiterated the opposition's right to have the "third of participation."
"The decisions of the Arab foreign ministers will lead nowhere," he added.
Aoun said that everyone wants to know what the US, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Syria and France want. "No one has asked what Lebanon wants," he said.
"If we do not answer this question, foreign powers will remain a source of division between the Lebanese."
Aoun said that the opposition is considering what steps to take in the future. "We will not reveal our intentions because we have been accused of making decisions without implementing them."
Commenting on French President Nicolas Sarkozy's denouncing the closure of the Lebanese parliament, Aoun said he wished the former had condemned the closure of the Constitutional Council and that France has interfered in Lebanon's domestic affairs by imposing legislative elections ahead of the adoption of a new electoral law.