Moallem: Kuwait Meeting Aims at Internationalizing Lebanon Crisis

Source: Al-Manar TV, 23-4-2008
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem said in an interview with Al-Manar TV that the meeting on Lebanon which was held in Kuwait on the sidelines of the conference of Iraq's neighbors and world powers was a step forward towards "internationalizing" the crisis in Lebanon.
"We fear that given the way in which the meeting is being held, it is aimed at internationalizing the Lebanese crisis," he told Al-Manar TV correspondent.
"This meeting, which was prepared by Terje Rod Larsen (UN special envoy to Lebanon for the implementation of the 1559 resolution) during his tour in the Arab and European countries, complicates the crisis because the conflicting interests of major powers will play a role in derailing the solution in Lebanon," Moallem said, adding that the United States was "the only country which did not support the Arab initiative and wants the situation in Lebanon to remain as it is".
"But if the countries in the Kuwait conference were able to push the Lebanese factions toward dialogue and solution", Moallem said, "We'll clap our hands for them".
Concerning his meeting with French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner earlier on Tuesday, Moallem said "we are adhered to the Arab League initiative, but the Syrian-French meeting wasn't limited with the Lebanese crisis, we discussed a number of regional issues especially the Syrian-French relations". The Syrian Foreign Minister described that meeting with Kouchner - the first time since Paris suspended high-level contacts with Damascus in December - as "cordial."
On Tuesday, election of a Lebanese president was postponed for the 18th time without setting a schedule for a new one. Consequently, the current status of presidential vacuum enters its sixth month.