Region | Lebanon
Arab League tries to broker Lebanon settlement
Arab foreign ministers urge warring factions to stop fighting as they prepare to send delegation to Lebanon.
- AP
- Published: 10:25 May 12, 2008
- The Arab League has demanded Shiite gunmen pull out of West Beirut and leave Lebanon's army in charge of security.
- Image Credit: AP
Cairo: Arab foreign ministers urged warring Lebanese factions to immediately stop fighting and said on Sunday they will send a delegation to try to broker a settlement between the Hezbollah-led opposition and US-backed government.
After an emergency meeting in Cairo on the Lebanon crisis, the Arab League issued a statement implicitly criticising the Shiite militant Hezbollah.
"The ministers reject the principal of resorting to armed violence to achieve political goals," it said.
The Arab League demanded Shiite gunmen pull out of West Beirut and leave Lebanon's army in charge of security. The gunmen had mostly left the streets by Sunday, a day after the army called on them to clear out.
Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa said the delegation would leave for Lebanon soon but did not give a date. No flights have gone into Beirut for four days because Hezbollah supporters have blocked the airport road. Moussa said the delegation would need to make security arrangements with the Lebanese army to go in.
The delegation will be headed by Qatari Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani, an ally of Syria who has good relations with Hezbollah.
Sunni Arab heavyweights Egypt and Saudi Arabia, who back the Lebanese government, will not be represented on the 10-member delegation. Syria, which supports Hezbollah, was also not included.
Moussa, an Egyptian who will be part of the delegation as secretary-general of the Arab League, said, "What is going on in Lebanon is unacceptable. We are very worried about this."
He told a news conference after the meeting, "We might succeed and we might not, but we have to try."
Syria, which currently holds the Arab League presidency, did not send its foreign minister to the meeting. Damascus controlled Lebanon for nearly three decades until 2005 and has said that the dispute should be left to the Lebanese to solve.
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