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US Secretary of State backs Lebanese sovereignty on visit to Beirut
Thursday, February 23, 2006
US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice held talks with head of the Future bloc in Parliament MP Saad Rafic Hariri and MP Walid Jumblatt in Beirut, on US support for Lebanese sovereignty and freedom. After the meeting, which took place at the home of the head of the Democratic Forum bloc in Parliament MP Jumblatt, Mr. Hariri said the Secretary of State has always backed Lebanese independence.
MP Hariri was asked by reporters, after the meeting, whether the US official’s visit to Beirut was linked to calls on President Emile Lahoud to step down, and about the head of state’s recent comments in which he said he was a friend of martyred Prime Minister Rafic Hariri and that he was not involved in the assassination. He stressed that while he would understand President Lahoud’s insistence that he is innocent, MPs and Ministers, who were close to the assassinated Premier, do not share President Lahoud’s account that they were friends, pointing out that he too “lived in the same house” as the murdered Prime Minister.
Addressing this week’s attack on an Islamic shrine in the Iraqi city of Samarra, MP Hariri reiterated his condemnation of the bombing, and said some have been trying to infiltrate Lebanon and Iraq to create conflict between Sunnis and Shiites, but this should not happen. He made clear that since the assassination of Prime Minister Hariri, there has been an agreement not to tolerate internal and inter-Muslim conflict. He also urged unity among the Iraqis.
For his part, MP Jumblatt told reporters, in response to a question on US Secretary of State Rice’s trip to Beirut which did not include talks with President Lahoud, that he personally supports UN Security Council Resolution 1559. He said the first clause in the Resolution acknowledges that the head of state was imposed on the Lebanese by Syria, adding MP Hariri, March 14 factions and Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Nasrallah Boutros want the Lebanese to decide who should become their President. Regarding Hizbollah’s arms, MP Jumblatt said only the Lebanese state should have arms and called on the Lebanese Army to deploy in South Lebanon and for the international cease-fire agreement to be implemented. He also said the occupied Shebaa Farms issue should be resolved at the International Court of Justice in The Hague and not through arms.
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