By Wassim Mroueh and Antoine Amrieh BEIRUT/TRIPOLI: Saudi Ambassador Ali Awad Osseiri visited Friday a number of prominent figures in the northern city of Tripoli, stressing his country aimed at uniting the Lebanese and looked forward to a stable and united Lebanon.
The Saudi envoy kicked off his tour by visiting former Tripoli MP Omar Karami, accompanied by a delegation from the embassy.
Osseiri conveyed the greetings of Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdel-Aziz to Karami.
Karami praised “great efforts” made by the Saudi Monarch in cooperation with Syria to resolve the current crisis in Lebanon.
Fears of civil strife have mounted in the country amid expectations that a UN-backed tribunal probing the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri would soon indict members from Hizbullah.
Hizbullah and March 8 forces hinted the tribunal should be dissolved, a demand rejected by rival March 14 coalition headed by Prime Minister Saad Hariri, the son of the slain premier.
On July 30, the Saudi king and Syrian President Bashar Assad held a summit with President Michel Sleiman at the Baabda Palace in a bid to ease tensions over the matter.
Karami and Osseiri joined Tripoli MPs Najib Mikati and Samir Jisr along with an array of officials from the northern coastal city touring of Al-Manar university campus in Abi Samra neighborhood.
The delegation inspected works in the $2.5 million Saudi-funded King Abdullah building.
Karami, who is the head of the university’s board of trustees, said the King Abdullah building represented a charity with ongoing benefits.
He added that Lebanon was still stuck in the “hellish labyrinth” caused by Security Council Resolution 1559.
“This doomed resolution has caused a sharp division among the Lebanese over everything, and all the suffering that we have faced in recent years and are still facing result from this division,” said Karami.
Resolution 1559 – issued in September 2004 – called for the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Lebanon and the disarmament of all groups other than the Lebanese Army, in an indirect reference to Hizbullah and Palestinian militant factions.
Resolution 1559 – issued in September 2004 – called for the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Lebanon and the disarmament of all groups other than the Lebanese Army, in an indirect reference to Hizbullah and Palestinian militant factions.
Hizbullah’s arms are a disputed issue in the country.
Osseiri later visited Economy and Trade Minister Mohammad Safadi, MP Jisr and the Mufti of Tripoli and the North Malek Shaar.
Shaar accompanied Osseiri to Abu Bakr As-Siddiq Mosque where they performed Friday prayers. Delivering Friday’s sermon, Shaar said Tripoli would remain the city of security and stability, and would remain immune against civil strife, adding the city would not fight anyone inside Lebanon.
In summer 2008, Tripoli saw armed clashes between Alawite and Sunni communities living in neighboring areas.
Media reports said various groups in the city were rearming, with fears that clashes might reoccur in the current tense atmosphere.
Osseiri attended a luncheon held by Mikati in his honor at the “Shat al-Fuddi restaurant” in Mina.
Mikati said the only solution for Lebanon’s crisis was through “honest and responsible dialogue aimed at emphasizing common denominators that unite the people of this country in a spirit of consensus laid down by the Taif Accord, and which enhances national partnership away from monopoly, domination and authoritarianism.”
He said this spirit of consensus was capable of preserving Lebanon’s unity and preventing civil strife.
“The will of goodness and concurrence opens the way for Lebanese leaders to come up with a solution based on constitutional institutions,” he added.
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