Arab ministers divided over Lebanon

CRISIS TALKS: Arab ministers are said to be divided over a draft resolution underlining the Arab League’s rejection of armed violence to achieve political goals. (AFP)

Arab foreign ministers holding crisis talks in Cairo were divided on Sunday over a draft resolution implicitly condemning Hezbollah for deadly clashes in Lebanon, delegates said.

A draft resolution put before ministers underlined the Arab League's "rejection of the use of armed violence to achieve political goals outside the framework of constitutional legitimacy, and the need for a withdrawal of all weapons from the streets," according to a text obtained by newswire AFP.

The text was drawn by Egypt and put forward with the support of six other pro-Western Arab governments - Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, delegates told AFP.

They said Syria, which did not send its foreign minister to the Cairo meeting and was represented by its ambassador to the Arab League, had objected to the draft.

"Many countries are against this text because of the implicit condemnation of Hezbollah," one diplomat told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The meeting followed days of lethal street battles in Lebanon which have stoked fears that a protracted political feud could break out into a repeat of the 1975-1990 civil war.

Notably absent was Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem whose country has been blamed for the troubles of its smaller neighbour.

The draft text also calls for a meeting of Lebanon's political leaders to discuss a proposed initiative aimed at ending the political deadlock.

It urges Lebanese politicians "to attend a meeting with a ministerial delegation yet to be formed in order to discuss the dangerous situation in Lebanon and draw up an urgent roadmap to implement the Arab initiative."

The meeting would bring together three opposition stalwarts - parliament speaker Nabih Berri, former president Michel Aoun and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah - with three pro-government politicians - Prime Minister Fuad Siniora, parliamentary majority leader Saad Hariri and former president Amin Gemayel.

Earlier, the Arab foreign ministers appealed for an end to the violence.

"In view of the danger of the situation in Lebanon, the council of ministers sends out an urgent appeal for an immediate end to violence, shooting in Mount Lebanon and the withdrawal of gunmen in order to enable the army to deploy," Ahmed Ben Helli, assistant secretary general for political affairs, said reading from a statement.

At the opening session, Djibouti's Foreign Minister Mahmud Ali Yussuf, who chaired Sunday's session, told fellow ministers that "a number of steps and measures to resolve the situation in Lebanon have been put forward."

He called on the different parties in Lebanon to "exercise restraint and cooperate with Arab endeavours," stressing that the "Arab initiative for Lebanon is the only initiative on the table."

That initiative calls for the election of Lebanese army chief General Michel Sleiman as president, the establishment of a national unity government and the holding of parliamentary elections.

Saudi Arabia, a key supporter and financier of the rump Western-backed government of Prime Minister Fuad Siniora, had led calls for the meeting in the wake of the fighting that has killed nearly 40 people.

Saudi Arabia and fellow regional heavyweight, Egypt, have been strong supporters of Siniora and blamed Shiite militant group Hezbollah and its Syrian and Iranian allies for the latest confrontation.

Lebanese soldiers deployed in the northern city of Tripoli on Sunday after fierce overnight battles, as the Hezbollah-led opposition handed over control of west Beirut to the army.

Lebanon's long-running political standoff, which first erupted in November 2006 when six pro-Syrian ministers quit the cabinet, has left it without a president since November, when Damascus protege Emile Lahoud stepped down at the end of his term of office.

The crisis is widely seen as an extension of the confrontation pitting the US and its Arab allies against Syria and Iran.

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