Accept Arab plan, UAE urges Lebanese rivals

Dubai: The UAE on Tuesday urged Lebanon's rival parties to accept the Arab plan, aimed at electing a new Lebanese president and ending the political deadlock, immediately.

"The full and immediate implementation of the plan would end the political crisis in the brotherly nation," said His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, upon his arrival home on Tuesday following a two-day visit to Iran and Syria.

Shaikh Mohammad, who held two rounds of talks with Syrian President Bashar Al Assad in Damascus on Monday and yesterday, also stressed the need to ensure the success of the Arab summit, to be held in the Syrian capital next month.

The summit has become uncertain as one of the founding members of the Arab League, Lebanon, has been without a president for the past three months.

Reports suggest that some Arab states could boycott the annual summit because they blame Syria, which supports the Lebanese opposition, for stalling Arab efforts to elect a new president.

The Arab plan for Lebanon, endorsed by the Arab League last month, stipulates the immediate election of army chief Michel Sulaiman as president, forming a new unity government and drawing a new electoral law. But Lebanon's rival camps disagree over Cabinet posts. Arab League chief Amr Mousa, who will be back in Beirut on Friday, will attempt a final push for a deal.

Shaikh Mohammad said his trip to Iran and Syria also covered mutual cooperation, political and economic. He conveyed to the Syrian leadership the UAE's viewpoint on the situation in Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine, WAM reported.

In Tehran, Shaikh Mohammad urged the Iranian leadership to "take practical steps to assure regional states of the Iranian nuclear programme's peaceful purposes," WAM added. "He also assured both countries that the UAE policy is based on ... stability to enhance regional cooperation."

In Damascus, Shaikh Mohammad and President Bashar held a closed door meeting to discuss the upcoming Arab summit.