When did Welch Acquire Lebanese citizenship?

Source: Alalam TV, 19-04-2008
LEBANON--Prime Minister Fouad Saniora has said efforts by the top US official David Welch to seal an agreement between struggling parties in Lebanon have failed to achieve any breakthrough.
After meeting with the US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, Saniora said the Lebanese parties must depend on themselves if they really wanted to break the impasse.
Welch said on Friday that the US was not in favor of maintaining the current status quo in Lebanon, referring to the five-month old presidential vacuum.
The remarks by Welch are likely to further escalate the fierce power struggle in Lebanon between its US-backed parliamentary majority and the opposition, led by the Hezbollah resistance group.
Welch arrived unexpectedly in Beirut on Thursday for talks on the country's political deadlock that has left Lebanon without a president for nearly five months.
His visit - the second since December - highlights mounting international concern over Lebanon's failure so far to fill the top post, left vacant after President Emile Lahoud's term ended last November.
Lebanon's sharply divided parliament has failed to elect Army commander Gen. Michel Suleiman as a consensus president because the US-backed parliamentary majority and the opposition remain at loggerheads over power-sharing and the shape of the future Cabinet.
Welch also met with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who is aligned with the opposition.
The US official said that the election of a president has been the objective of an Arab League plan that Washington supports.
The three-point plan, endorsed by Arab foreign ministers in Cairo in January, calls for the formation of a national unity government and the adoption of a new electoral law in addition to election of Suleiman.
While reiterating the US' support for the Saniora government, Welch called on lawmakers to seize the chance to elect a president on April 22, when the parliament convenes.
Parliament sessions have been postponed 17 times since September, as rival factions cannot agree on power-sharing in the future government.
The parliamentary majority has strongly rejected the opposition's demand for veto power over future government decisions.
Welch also met Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea, Justice Minister Charles Rizk, and former President Amine Gemayel and Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir.
He discussed with Rizk the latest developments regarding the international tribunal to try suspects in the murder of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.