Region | Syria
Mubarak to discuss crisis with Riyadh
Will examine nation's ties with UN commission
- AP
- Published: 00:00 January 3, 2006
Riyadh: President Hosni Mubarak plans a one-day visit with Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah to discuss Egypt's concerns with the deepening crisis over alleged Syrian involvement in the murder of a former Lebanese leader.
The meeting today, disclosed by a Saudi official on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to disclose the visit, would also examine Syria's relations with the UN commission investigating the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri.
The commission has issued reports implicating Syria in the killing and claiming Damascus was not fully cooperating with the probe, which disclosed yesterday that it had issued a second request to question President Bashar Al Assad.
The Saudi official said the timing of the visit was linked to allegations made by former Syrian vice-president Abdul Halim Khaddam in a television interview Friday. He claimed Bashar had threatened Hariri several months before he was assassinated.
Syria has denied any role in the assassination and declared it was cooperating with UN investigators.
Destabilisation
Egypt and Saudi Arabia were reported earlier to have pressed Bashar to improve cooperation with the UN investigation, fearing stronger US pressure on the Damascus and a destabilisation of the regime.
Mubarak, a key US ally in the Mideast who has been in close contact recently with Bashar and King Abdullah, has said he sought prevent increased tension in the region, already embroiled in the US-led war in Iraq and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The Saudi official said Mubarak and King Abdullah also would examine Iraq's future after its Dec. 15 elections and the continued US presence in the country. The two leaders also were to talk over the Palestinian question, especially the financial crisis facing the Palestinian National Authority.
Meanwhile, The US ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, has urged Syria to comply with the second request of the United Nations commission investigating the assassination of a former Lebanese leader to question Syrian president after a former top government official made damaging revelations.
"We strongly support the commission's investigative efforts," Bolton said in a statement yesterday. "We expect the government of Syria to comply with these requests fully and unconditionally as the Security Council resolutions require."
In Lebanon, Hariri's son, Sa'ad, issued a statement extolling Khaddam for delivering what he called "a historic testimony in the interests of Lebanon and the truth" about Hariri's killing.
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