Mousa mission 'a failure due to foreign influence'

Doha: The Arab League's mediation initiative has failed in Lebanon because of foreign influence on the Fouad Siniora government, according to a senior Hezbollah official.

The declaration by Haj Hassan Hudruj, member of Hezbollah's Political Bureau, came as Arab League chief Amr Mousa pleaded for dialogue among Lebanese leaders as he wrapped up a new round of shuttle diplomacy between the government and the opposition.

Hudruj told Gulf News that his party would go ahead with its demonstrations to achieve its goals.

He said Mousa's mission had failed because of changes in the proposals agreed upon in the first round of mediation.

Hudruj said the government had agreed with Mousa earlier on two points: the formation of a power-sharing government and the proposal on the controversial international tribunal investigating former premier Rafik Hariri's killing.

Hudruj said Mousa, in his latest mission, had reneged on the formula agreed upon to form the Cabinet, and was sceptical that the UN tribunal could intimidate the Lebanese legal system. "We need to define the extent the international court can delve into regarding the Hariri inquiry," he said.

Lack of dialogue

Mousa, however, declined to call his latest effort a failure but said that leading figures within the power-sharing regime needed to start talking to each other. "Contacts between Lebanese leaders do not exist," he told a Beirut press conference, according to Reuters.