Washington Keener to See Lebanese President Elected

by **Admin** Thu Apr 17, 2008 4:18 am

U.S.
Charge d'Affaires Michele Sison denied that Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice has said the absence of a president in Lebanon was not
a problem and that her top priority was to keep Premier Fouad Saniora
as head of the executive body.

Sison
told An Nahar daily on Wednesday that the Bush administration wanted
presidential elections in Lebanon to be held as soon as possible.

She
stressed that Lebanon was still a priority and that Washington has the
same objectives of the Arab initiative in terms of electing a new
Lebanese head of state and ending the presidential vacuum.

As
Safir daily on Monday quoted Rice as telling foreign ministers of the
five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council that her concern
was to keep Saniora in power and not the election of a new Lebanese
president.

"What's
wrong with keeping the situation in Lebanon as it is? Our priority is
to keep Fouad Saniora as head of the democratically elected
government…and that he acts according to the powers granted to him and
the president," An Arab diplomatic source quoted Rice as saying.

Sison
described as nonsense accusations against the United States that it
wants to prolong the crisis gripping Lebanon and back the government
rather than a new president.

She
told An Nahar that her country was keener to see that a president is
elected, expressing hope that parliament would choose a new head of
state during a session scheduled for April 22.

Lebanon has been without a president since November, when Emile Lahoud stepped down with no successor elected.

Seventeen
sessions in parliament to elect a successor to Lahoud have failed since
November amid bickering between the majority and the opposition. A new
session is scheduled for April 22.