Moussa Stresses Need to Elect President Before Anything Else

by **Admin** Wed Apr 02, 2008 11:24 am

Arab League chief Amr Moussa has said Lebanon was the starting point for improving inter-Arab ties and stressed the need to implement the first clause of the Arab initiative which calls for the election of a Lebanese president.

"There is a ray of hope to improve Arab-Arab relations starting from Lebanon," Moussa told Future News television on Tuesday.

He said Syria was willing to improve these ties and that "Lebanon plays a role in this improvement" because the situation in the country "has bothered all Arabs."

"I think there are possibilities for a new developed (Syrian) stance…But I don't want to sound very optimistic," Moussa said.

He told the channel that Lebanon would grow stronger when a president is elected and a national unity government is formed.

"Many people are telling (us) to expect a hot summer in the region. This scares me a lot because the weakest point…is Lebanon. But when Lebanon gets a president, a unity cabinet and an efficient parliament, (then it) becomes stronger," Moussa said.

He also told Future News TV that electing a head of state was "a fundamental issue" and that the Arab League initiative's first clause calls for the election of Army Chief Gen. Michel Suleiman president.

"I understand the necessity to agree on the general form of the (future) government. But going into the details of portfolios and names" is not part of the initiative, Moussa stressed.

The second and third points of the Arab plan respectively call for the formation of a national unity government in which no single party has veto power and the adoption of a new electoral law.

Parliament has failed to embrace the three-point plan because the majority and the Hizbullah-led opposition remain deadlocked over the shape of the future cabinet. The March 14 majority coalition has strongly rejected the opposition's demand for veto power over future government decisions.

Moussa said he will visit Beirut when "bickering Lebanese parties (show) readiness to move towards the election of a new president."

He warned that it was time "to move" before the delicate situation leads to "collapse."

About demands by the March 14 alliance for a meeting of Arab foreign ministers, Moussa said: "It is possible to hold a foreign ministers' meeting but it depends on Lebanon's (official) demand