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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Siniora hinges progress on election |
| 2008-04-11 |
| Fouad Siniora has said his main concern is holding presidential elections in Lebanon in a bid to lead the Lebanese toward the future. In his continued effort to hold an Arab foreign ministers meeting to discuss the strained ties between Beirut and Damascus, Siniora met Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamed bin Khalifa al-Thani before heading to Manama to meet Bahraini King Sheikh Hamad bin Issa al-Khalifa. Speaking to reporters in Doha, Siniora said electing a new president as soon as possible was the key to solving Lebanon's protracted political crisis. The premier reiterated that Lebanon's boycott of the recent Arab summit in Damascus aimed to send a message to all Arabs that the country was not in a state of normalcy. He added that the purpose of his Arab tour was to explain to Arab leaders the prevailing situation in Lebanon. "We are not living under normal circumstances. The country has been without a president for the past five months, Parliament has not met once in the past 17 months. This is why we boycotted the Arab summit. We want to highlight that there is a problem between two neighboring Arab states; Lebanon and Syria. The strained ties between the two states must be addressed by the Arab community." Siniora said that he was in the process of preparing for an extraordinary Arab foreign ministers' meeting dedicated to addressing the Lebanese-Syrian problem. "We already have a consensus candidate that we should elect as president and then move forward to forming a national-unity government and drafting a new electoral law in accordance with the Arab initiative," he added. |
| Posted by:Fred |